The Voices
by Misora-Massacre
Summary: Beyond Birthday has had his killing urges controlled by the voices he hears in his head. Now, when his life is how he likes it, they came back. Can his friends help him before he ends up killing those he loves most? Warning: Blood, violence and MAYBE yaoi
1. Prologue

Beyond Birthday.

As a child, he never had the perfect life. He never even had an average life. With an abusive father, his life was far from perfect. Beyond was born with the eyes of a shinigami. He had been able to tell what a person's real name was and when they were going to die. Just one look into those eyes and Beyond's father, Jasper, thought they were evil. Eyes that red were eyes of the devil, he had once thought. He had disowned Beyond, claiming that he was not his son, but the son of Satan. Jasper had tried to kill Beyond every night for seven years with stabbing, beatings, and other abusive ways.

One night, after an extremely painful beating, Beyond layed on his blood soaked bed curled up in a ball. By this time, he was 12 years old. _What did I do?_ he thought to himself as he traced his new scars. He looked at his finger, staring at the fresh new blood. He closed his eyes and started to weep silently. That was when he heard them.

_"Why do you cryyy, chiiiiiild?"_

Beyond's eyes shot open as he looked around for the source. "Who are you?" he whispered. A cackle was heard. _"Weeee are your frieeends," _the voices replied. Beyond's eyes became thoughtful. "F-Friends...?" he said unsurely. _"But of couuuuurse," _they replied. _"We have beeeen with youu through your paaaiin and suffeeering for allllllll of these yeears." _Beyond frowned. "I-I'm sorry you had to go through that..." he apologized weakly. The voices chuckled. _"You have no reaaason to aplogiiiize, chiiild," _they assured. "I just don't get it..." Beyond said. "Father is always angry with me, but I haven't done anything wrong. He says it's my eyes...but what's wrong with them?"

_"Nothiiing is wroooong with themm," _the voices said. _"Your eyes are a giiiift. Thosee numbeeeers represent the amouuunt of time a person has to liiiiivee." _Beyond drew in a sharp breath. "So that's what they mean..." he mused. "But then, the numbers that I saw above father's head were unusually short..."

Suddenly there was a crash downstairs. Beyond slowly turned his head to face his door, which was ajar. He heard the gunshot, along with his mother screaming his father's name. Beyond knew what had just happened. He understood all of it now. His father was finally dead, which meant no more abusement. And then he heard laughing. It was a different kind of laughter, one he had never heard come out of a human. That's when he relized that _he_ was the one laughing. There he sat, laughing and laughing and laughing...

Two years later, Beyond had been placed in an orphanage called Wammy's House for a few years since his mother had died. Beyond was now seventeen years of age. He had made some actual friends, ones you could actually see. He stared at the stars from the window in his room. They were brighter than usual. Beyond smiled as he silently named the constellations to himself. _"Enjoyyiing the siiiights?" _he suddenly heard. He immediately put a hand to his head. "You again?" he asked. The voices laughed. _"Do you reaaaly wannaaa be here, Beyooond?" _they asked. Beyond gave a confused look. "What do you mean? Everything's perfect right now. I have actual friends, they care about me, I get good grades, plus I'm second in line to be L's successor," he said. _"Whaaat was that laaast oneee?" _the voices asked. "I said that I'm second-"

_"Stop riiiight theeeree," _the voices inturuppted. "What?" Beyond asked, annoyed. _"You said that yoouu were secccoooond. Don't youu want to bee moreee than thaatt?" _they asked. Beyond shook his head. "I see nothing wrong with the title I've been given," he said. The voices sighed sadly. _"Oh, poooorrr Beyond. Doeesn't knoww what he's missing ouuut onn..." _they said. "What do you mean by that?" Beyond asked.

_"Weee just thoought that you would want to be mooree than 'baaack upp', that's aalll. Weee never thoughht you weree so bliiind to not seeee that you were being useeeed," _the voices replied. "...Used?" Beyond whispered. The voices chuckled. _"Yoouu haveen't notiiceed? This Lawwwlieet is just usiiiing youuuu and everyone elseee hereeee. Woouuldn't it be niiiiiicee to showw him that he's not the most supirioooorr persoon hereee? Don't you want to show him that you could suuuuurpaasss hiim?" _

"...That'd be nice," Beyond agreed, a wicked grin slowly forming on his face. The voices laughed. _"Glad to see you agreeeee. Noww, first thiiing's fiiirst. You'd haaate seeeeing everyyone elseee be useeed, correect?" _they asked. Beyond nodded. _"Well,"_ the voices started_,"Whyyy don't youu put theemm ouuut of their miseeery, and awaaay from L's graaasp?" _

"How?" Beyond asked. _"Loook insiiide the drawwwer beside youuu. The toool to saaave them will bee in theeere," _the voices answered. Beyond opened the drawer. All that was in there was a book, a few pencils, and a knife. Beyond picked the knife up. "This?" he asked. _"Yeeeesssss," _the voices replied. _"Nowww, waaiit until eeveryyone's asleep. Theen, wee waant you to sneak ouut of youur room annd take caree of the onee closesst to being L's tooool." _Beyond stared at the knife, eyes shining red. "Understood."

A few years later, Beyond looked outside the window of the apartment building. Then he turned his attention to the gallon of gasoline next to him. He sighed, kneeled and uncapped it. _"This is a mistaake, Beyonndd," _the voices argued. Beyond smirked. "Kya ha! Why? Is someone afraid to die?" he asked in a mocking tone. _"We've done sooo much for you, thouugh. Whyy would you waant to throwww your liiife away like thiis?" _the voices asked. "Because," Beyond said. "If I don't, I'll lose. And besides. If I die, I'll never hear from you bastards again." He started pouring the gasoline all over himself.

_"Don't dooo thiis!" _the voices commanded. Beyond shook his head, smiling. Then he got out a lighter from his pocket. "Farewell," he said to them, then lit himself on fire.

As some of you might know how the story went, Beyond wasn't able to commit suicide. Naomi Misora made sure of it. Although, the pain was far too great that the voices hadn't spoken for a year. But they came back as soon as they recovered, screaming in Beyond's head as he layed against padded walls, wearing a tight straight jacket. They would call him a fool, a faliure, anything they could think of. But Beyond would just sit there, smiling. They got what they deserved, and so did he.


	2. Chapter 1

"Beyond Birthday, get the fuck out here now!"

Beyond reluctantly opened his eyes. There was someone yelling for him again. But why so early in the morning? He sighed and lazily got out of bed. "What do you want?" he asked sleepily when he opened the door. Mello stood there, arms crossed and a pissed off look on his face. "My guns. Where are they?" he asked. Beyond rubbed his eyes. "Wha...? What are you talking about?" he asked. "You were at our house yesterday, right? Matt said he saw you being all suspicious and shit. Now, my guns are missing. Where. The hell. Are they?" Mello asked.

Beyond smirked. "Did you check your pants?" he asked. "I'm not playing, Beyond!" Mello yelled. Beyond sighed again and went to retrieve the guns. He handed them to Mello, who grabbed them from him furiously. "Why did you take them anyway?" he asked. Beyond shrugged. "Got bored," he answered simply. Mello groaned. "Oh, and by the way; L said he wanted to see you," Mello said.

"Why, what does he want?" Beyond asked. Mello shrugged. "I don't know. Something about needing your 'expertise' on murdering to figure something out about Kira," he answered. Beyond chuckled. "Oh, does he?" he asked. "Just shut up and go to the Kira HQ," Mello told him, then left on his motocycle. Beyond shut the door and threw on his usual clothing. After that, he headed over to the headquarters to see L.

"Kira."

"No."

"Yes."

"I'm not."

"Liar."

Light Yagami sighed. L has been trying to get a confession out of him all week. "Ryuzaki, aren't you tired of this?" Light asked. L took a bite out of his cake. "Aren't you tired of lying?" he asked with his mouth full. Light groaned. "Don't you think we should work on how to find Kira?" he asked. "He's here in this room, although I think he's indenial," L responded. Light tried his best not to punch L in the face.

Misa Amane gave L a sour look. "Do you have to be so annoying, Ryuzaki? I mean, it should be obvious that he isn't Kira," she said. "Are you saying that because he's your boyfriend, or is it because you're the Second Kira?" L asked. She hit him on the head with her purse. L rubbed his head. "God, I was just kidding . There's no reason for you to be the Second Kira," he muttered. "That's what I thought," Misa said triumphantly.

"Hey, why do you do that with her and not me?" Light asked. "Because you're Kira," L answered simply. Light sighed again. Matsuda came in. "Hey, Ryuzaki. I think Beyond's here," he announced. "Let him in," L said.

"I'm already in," Beyond said as he entered the room. "Nice secerity system, by the way." L rolled his eyes. "So what did you need me for?" Beyond asked. "There's something we need to figure out on Kira's killing pattern," L said. "Why? Kira's right there," Beyond said, pointing at Light. "I am not Kira!" Light objected. "And he's indenial," Beyond added. "I hate you," Light muttered.

Beyond laughed. "Anyway, what's wrong with the pattern?" he asked. L opened a window on his computer. "I have a hunch that there's been a change in Kira's killings, but I can't tell exactly what. Do you see anything?" he asked. Beyond went over to him and stared at the computer. He sighed. "L, working on this case has seemed to finally take its toll on your mind," he said. "So far, there isn't any difference in his killings. They're all just random criminals. They're not all bank robbers, or all murderers, or all kidnappers. They're different varieties of criminals, just as they've always been."

"Are you sure? I could have sworn there was a difference," L mused. "I told you, Ryuzaki," Light said. L pouted and took a bite out of the cupcake he'd been eating earlier. "Maybe you should take a little break," Misa suggested. "I'd never do such a thing," L said. "I hate to agree with her, but you have to admit that you've been setting a bunch of false alarms on Kira lately. Maybe you're becoming to desperate in catching him," Beyond stated. L shook his head, refusing to believe any of them.

Light sighed. "Fine, do whatever you like, Ryuzaki. But keep this up and you might end up failing," he said. Beyond chuckled. "Not that you'd have a problem with that, Yagami," he muttered. Light shot him an angry look.

"Hey guys!" someone called. Everyone turned around to see Matt. "Oh, hello Matt," L greeted. "Hi!" Misa said happily. "Where's Mello? You're usually with him," Light asked. "Out and about, I guess," Matt answered with a shrug. "I just came here to see if there was anything good to do." Beyond put his hands in his pockets. "Well, you can help convince L that he should take just a teeny-tiny break from Kira," he said. Matt tilted his head. "What do you mean? Why?" he asked.

"He's not thinking straight and it's getting difficult to work on this case," Light said. Matt folded his arms against his chest. "L, if your thinking process isn't how it usually is, then it's not wise to continue working on it. I mean, as far as I know, you don't even sleep every night. That's very unhealthy for both your mind _and _your body. If you wanna continue working on the Kira Case, then I highly suggest that you take care of yourself for once!" he advised.

L sighed. "Matt, you don't understand. I _can't _take a break from Kira. If I do, who knows what move he might make? I refuse to do it." he said. Light put a hand on Matt's shoulder. "Don't worry; that was a good argument," he assured. Matt shook his head and started to light a cigarette. "It's not a good argument unless you win," he said. "Dude, don't you know it's bad to smoke inside...?" Beyond asked, eyeing Matt's lighter nervously. "Oh, sorry. I forgot someone's a little sissy when it comes to fire," Matt said with a laugh.

"Since when did I become a part of the conversation?" Matsuda asked defensively. "Matsuda, go get me some coffee," L said, not really wanting to hear him act like an idiot. Matsuda pouted but went to fetch the coffee anyway. "So, if you're all done trying to convince to stop working on the case, I'm going to continue," L said. Matt sighed hopelessly. "Well, at least try to get some sleep every night, all right? I'm out," he said, then left.

"Take his advice, L, or someone else might beat you to catching Kira," Beyond said, then went on his way out as well. "What do you mean by that?" L asked, stopping Beyond in his tracks. "I'm just saying, if you keep this up, someone might beat you at this little game. It could be anyone. Maybe another criminal?" he mused. L glared at Beyond. He could tell that he was taunting him. And, unfortuantely, it was working a bit. "Are you implying that _you_ could catch Kira before me?" L asked.

Beyond shrugged. "Anythings possible, right?" he asked with a smile. "You're challenging me," L said. It was more of a statement than a question. "Are you willing to accept?" Beyond asked. "Oh, wait. Let's make it more interesting, shall we? If you win, I'll buy you sweets whenever you want for the remainder of your life. If _I_ win, however, I get to be your successor again. Doesn't matter where I am in line. I could be the 27th in line. Whatever. As long as I'm still in it."

L smiled wryly. "All right, then. You're on," he said, and shook hands with Beyond. Light looked at them doubtfully. They seemed to be challenging each other a lot, lately.


	3. Chapter 2

Beyond walked through the park thoughtfully, wondering how he should spend his afternoon. He was already well aware of the fact that Light Yagami was Kira; that much was obvious. He had no lifespan. Still, Beyond had never planned to actually _catch _Kira, so for as much as Beyond knew, Light's secret was safe. The whole "I'll beat you" speech he told L was just for L's encouragement and Beyond's entertainment. He was looking forward to see L stress out over the case.

Beyond's only problem now was to find something to do to cure his boredom. That's when he spotted them. Near and Vivian, a dark haired hispanic girl, were sitting on a park bench eating ice-cream. Vivian looked up and smiled when she saw him. "Hey, Beyond!" she greeted happily, patting the empty space on the bench. Beyond smiled and sat next to her. "So, what have you guys been up to?" he asked.

"Just saw a movie and had ice-cream," Near replied. "We were gonna invite you, too, but you weren't home," Vivi said. "Did you try calling?" Beoynd asked. Near nodded. "We heard it ringing inside your house,"he said. Beyond automatically reached for his jean pockets and cursed silently when he found them empty. Vivi chuckled, got Beyond's phone out of her back pocket, and handed it to him. "I took the liberty of getting it for you," she smiled. Beyond got it from her. "Heh, thanks," he said.

"So what about you? Where've you been?" Near asked. "Scaring L, mostly," Beyond replied casually. "And how did you do that?" Near asked, not believing that Beyond could scare the detective. "I told him that I could catch Kira before him," Beyond responded. "And _why_ did you say that?" Vivi asked. Beyond shrugged. "The guy needed some sleep, so now he'll get more rest so he could concentrate on the Kira Case some more," he said simply. "How typical of you," Near murmurmed. "Oh, shut up," Beyond said. Vivi sighed. "You guys..." she murmurmed.

Beyond chuckled and then frowned. "Damn, I just remembered I ran outta food. I need to go grocery shopping," he said, then got up. Vivi frowned. "But we just ran into you," she said. "Don't worry. I'll see you guys later," he said, then kissed her on the cheeck. He waved and went on his way.

Light stared uneasily at L as he read the latest Kira report. L's competitveness with Beyond reminded Light of Mello's competitiveness with Near. But with this kind of motivation, L would probably find out who Kira is rather quickly...and Light didn't want that. But how could he convince L to take a small, little break without it looking suspicious? Maybe he could get Misa or Matsuda to cause a distraction? But would that really work? As Light contemplated possible distractions, he heard his phone start to ring. L's eyes shot towards him for a second, and than back to his paper.

Light sighed and let his phone continue to ring. _It's probably Mikami, _he thought. _It would just be worse if L overheard a conversation between me and him about any new names. _L's voice broke his train of thought. "Why didn't you answer that, Light-kun?" he asked. Light shook his head. "It wasn't important," he said dismisively. "How do you know if it was important or not if you didn't answer it?" L asked. Light sighed. "Ryuzaki, I'm busy with the case too, you know," he stated. L decided to continue.

"It might have been a family emergancy. You never know; something might have happened to your younger sister. Maybe your father's phone is off and the only way to contact him was through you? Or," he eyed the brunette suspicioully,"perhaps it was your accomplice, asking for orders on what criminals he or she should kill next!" Light looked at him, clearly offended. "I can't believe you'd get so worked up over a phone call!" he excalimed. L sighed and took a bite out of his cheesecake. "I'm sorry, Light-kun," he apologized lamely. "It's just..."

"Just what?" Light asked. L frowned and stared at his cake. "Ever since we were children at the orphanage, Beyond has challenged me to a great amount of bets and whatnot. Unfortunately, he would beat me every time," he explained with clenched teeth. "And now, he's proposed the ultimate challenge, in which the winner will claim the title as Kira's captor." Light was suprised at how much determination L was showing. "How come you didn't act like this before?" he asked.

"Because I was focusin more on not letting these feelings show," L replied. Light chuckled. "What?" L asked. "I'll just never understand the people from Wammy's House, that's all," Light responded. He thought he saw a hint of a smile appear on L's face. "I'm not arguing with that," L said, and started to focus on the reports. Light was about to continue his work as well when his phone started to ring again. L and Light's eyes locked on each other for a moment. After several more rings, Light groaned and answered his phone.

"Hello?" he said into it. L watched Light curiously out of the corner of his eye. After a minute or two had passed, Lught hung up and resumed his work. L bit his thumbnail. "43%..." he murmured. "What the hell did I do now?" Light demanded angrily. "It took you approximately 8.3 seconds to answer your phone; an unnecssary hesitation. The tone of your voice sounded frustrated and troublesome at first, until you neared the end of your conversation, in which you sounded quite satisfied. There was no mention of any family members, only an internet search engine," L said calmly.

"So?" Light asked. "So," L started, "it migt have been your accomplice not knowing who to kill, or perhaps which country/city/state te newest batch of targeted criminals should be located. You were frustrated because you didn't want to seem suspicious in my presense. In the end, you ended up telling him/her to look up a list of names on the internet, probably looking which country has the median amount of ciminal rates. Therefore raising my suspicions of you being Kira by 18%." Light crossed his arms. "You're difficult, you know that? he asked wearily. L ignored Light's remark and continued his work.


	4. Chapter 3

Beyond finally arrived home with a couple of plastic bags filled his groceries (jars of strawberry jam, mostly). He sighed as he placed the bags on the kitchen table. What to do now? He got one of the jars and sat on the couch in front of the TV. There was a knock on the door when he turned on the TV. "Come in," he called, opening the jar and scooping up a handful of jam. Teru Mikami rushed inside with his Death Note close to his chest. "Beyond, I need to borrow your internet," he said hurriedly.

Beyond raised an eyebrow curiously at the prosecutor. "Why, what for?" he asked. "My internet and cable's out, and I _need_ to write new names," Mikami explained. "Near and Vivi aren't home, so I can't ask them. Matt and Mello would get suspicious if I asked them. Go—I mean, Light is busy 'solving' the Kira Case with L, and Misa scares me. You're the only one I can ask!" Beyond licked some jam off his hand and sighed. "You really expect me to let you use my computer to kill off more criminals?" he asked. Mikami gave him a hopeless look, making Beyond sigh again.

"It's over there," he said, nodding towards his computer. "Thank you!" Mikami said gratefully, and went over to the computer, taking a pen out of his pocket. "Whatever," Beyond muttered. As Mikami began to rapidly type on the keyboard, Beyond started to hear something, something like…whispering? Beyond lowered the volume on the TV, trying to make out what it was saying. He could only make out a few words: listen…help…_kill_…

"Hey, Mikami. In what way would you like to die?"

Mikami looked up at Beyond in surprise. "Why so curious all of a sudden?" he asked. Beyond didn't have an answer; he had asked the question without really being aware of what he was asking. "Um…just wondering," he ended up replying. Mikami clicked his tongue, thinking of a good answer. "Well, hopefully my death will be peaceful. If I'm to be murdered, though, I'd like it to be because I was risking my life for Kira," he said. Beyond bit his thumbnail. _Pathetic_, he thought to himself. "What the hell?" Mikami exclaimed out if nowhere. "What?" Beyond asked, getting off the couch and walking to Mikami.

Pushing his glasses in place, Mikami pointed at the computer screen. "Read it," was all he said. Beyond narrowed his eyes at the article the mouse arrow pointed at. _"Late last night, investigators had discovered 2 dead bodies in an abandoned house. The bodies are yet to be identified, since proof shows that they've been brutally beaten prior to their deaths that recognition is difficult. A message had been left, reading, 'This is what happens when you don't believe in Kira," _Beyond read.

Mikami pounded his fist on the table. "Dammit! They're spreading Kira's name in the wrong way!" he yelled. "This was bound to happen eventually," Beyond said. "You shouldn't be surprised.

Mikami ignored him as he whipped out his cell and began to dial. "Who you callin'?" Beyond asked. "L," Mikami replied. Beyond sighed and scooped some more jam. "I doubt he'll accept the case. Only two people are victims here," he said. Mikami shook his head and highlighted a part of the article with the mouse. _"If the police's theories are correct, these two might be the 14__th__ and 15__th__ victims of a new murder case," _it said. "In that case, he might be a _little _interested," Beyond said, heading back for the couch.

Mikami quickly entered the kitchen once he finally got L on the line. Now that Beyond thought about it, L might take the case on. If not, then Light would probably want to investigate the crime scene for further details. Two people brutally bear to death… Beyond pictured how it might have happened in his head. Was their any blood spilt? What did the murderer use to commit the crime? A hammer, a baseball, some convenient blunt object that just happened to be laying around? Or maybe just the killer's own bare fists? Beyond imagined how he would've done it, and then stopped.

_Why are you so curious, huh? _he asked himself. _It's not like you're gonna try it for yourself, right?_

Mikami came back into the living room a moment later. "Light said he was gonna check it out. I think some of the others are going to as well. You want to join?" he said. Beyond shrugged and hit the off button on the TV remote. "Eh, might as well. I don't have anything better to do," he responded. "Good," Mikami said, and started to exit. Beyond began to follow after him when he heard the whispering again. Irritated, he shrugged it off and shut the door behind him.

Matt smoked his cigarette as he and Mello drove to the headquarters, causing Mello to cough. "Dammit, Matt! Do you really have to smoke in the car? The last thing we need is a car accident," he complained. "Quit your whining, will ya? I already rolled down all the freakin' windows," Matt said wearily.

Mello rolled his eyes and stared out the window. "What did they want again?" he asked. "Something about looking over some building 2 murder victims were found," Matt answered. "And why are _we_ going?" Mello asked. "Cause I volunteered us," Matt replied simply. Mello glared at him and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Aw, cheer up. I'll take you out for chocolate later, how 'bout that?" Matt suggested. Mello bit his lips and stared down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs. This made Matt chuckle. "You're so cute when you do that," he said with a smile. Mello scowled. "Shut up," he said under his breath. Matt laughed quietly to himself and pulled up next to the headquarters. After getting out, they headed to the doors only to bump into Vivi and Near who were just exiting, followed by Light, Beyond, and Mikami.

"What, are we going already?" Mello asked. "Apparently," Near mumbled. "I wasn't asking you!" Mello exclaimed. The albino rolled his eyes and twirled his hair. "You never directed the question to a specific person," he replied.

"Can we not do this now?" Mikami asked in annoyance. Beyond chuckled at the prosecutor's impatience. Matt sighed, blowing another cloud of smoke. "Let's just leave and get it over with," he said, and headed back to the car. Light and Mikami went with them as the others got in Beyond's car.

"I wonder how bad it is," Vivi was saying as they were getting closer to their destination. Near shrugged in the back seat. "Pretty bad, I'm guessing," he said. Beyond looked at the paper with the address once more. "Are you sure this is the right one?" he asked. Vivi nodded. "Why, what's wrong?" she asked. "I don't know. Just seems like familiar address, that's all," Beyond said, trying to remember where he'd seen it before.

Vivi stared at the window and pointed. "That's it, I think," she said, remembering how the outside of the house looked like in the picture attached to the article. It was hard to tell if it was the same one at night, though. As soon as Beyond saw it; he tensed. It was no wonder the address felt so familiar, no wonder why he had a bad feeling about going.

It was his childhood home.


	5. Chapter 4

He couldn't believe it. If he had remembered the address, he would have never offered to go. This place brought back too many bad memories for him, memories of torture; beatings, stabbings, poisonings, feeling that he was going to die almost every night, never knowing what it was like to be cared for.

"Is something wrong?" Vivi asked in concern, noticing Beyond's sudden tenseness. Realizing that he had already parked and wasn't getting out, he just shook his head dismissively. "It's nothing," he said, smiling in hopes that it would reassure her. She smiled back, though she wasn't quite fully convinced.

Matt went around their car and tapped on the window. "You guys coming or what?" he asked. "We'll be right there, don't worry," Vivi called. Everyone had already entered the house, including Near. Vivi turned to Beyond. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. Beyond chuckled. "I'm _fine_," he said and opened the car door to leave. Vivi did the same.

Mello fidgeted with the lock on the door for a moment before he finally managed to epen the door. Beyond was the last to enter, imagining his father coming out with a knife in his hand, its blade reflecting the sunlight tauntingly. Beyond shivered and closed the door behind him.

Light was staring at a blood splattered mirror in disgust. "Whoever did this is truly a monster," he said to himself. Mikami, who was standing right next to him, nodded in agreement. Matt and Mello were scrutinizing at the chalk outlines that replaced the carcasses that were once there. Matt slightly tilted his head as he stared at one particular outline.

"Is it really physically possible for a body to contort in such a position…?" he asked tentatively. "Not naturally, anyway…" replied Vivi. Near made a face. "Well, while you guys are down here, I'll check the upstairs. Beyond, you coming?"

Beyond's eyes quickly shot at Near. "What? Me?" he asked in surprise. "Well, everyone else is bust and you're just standing, so yes. I mean you," Near responded in a bored tone. Beyond looked at the rough wooden stairs, wood so rough that as a child he had often caused his feet to bleed on them.

He sighed. "Sure," he said, giving Near such a curt answer so he wouldn't hear the trembling in his voice. Reluctantly, Beyond followed Near up the stairs. "You check this half of rooms, while I check the others," Near said. Beyond wasn't so willing. "Can we switch?" he asked. Near gave him a dull look. "This isn't a game, Beyond," he said, then left.

Beyond stared nervously down the corridor. _Father's dead, remember? _He reminded himself. _He…He can't hurt me anymore… _Slowly, he made his way down the hall, his hear increasing with every footstep. The first room was the one he wanted to go in the least. But if he didn't go and there was an important clue, it was likely that some of the people here wouldn't trust him anymore. And God knows how long it took for him to gain that trust. Holding his breath in, he grabbed the door knob and entered.

The room was just as he remembered. The windows were nailed shit and painted black. The curtains and blanket were torn as if by an animal trying to save itself from a vicious predator. And everywhere in the room was a gruesome amount of _blood_.

Automatically he remembered one of those dreadful nights he had spent in the room. His father had gotten a knife and carved a prater into his back in cursive, making sure that Beyond would repeat every word Jasper wrote. The longer Beyond stood in the room, the stronger the memories got. He could feel the cold blade against his back as if reliving it all over again.

He started to feel weal to his knees. _It's not real! _he told himself, thought with every second he felt more and more pain. He gripped frantically at his hair as his knees gave in under him. _No…it can't…he's…he's…_Beyond's thoughts became incomprehensible. A wave of mixed emotions washed over him as he felt the knife in his back do deeper and deeper.

Beyond bit his lip hard, suppressing a huge scream. He started to taste the metallic taste of blood from his lip. Slowly, his vision became more and more blurred. The sounds of the people downstairs became more and more faint. Then finally, he came unconscious.

Near was the first to find him. "Beyond?" he said unsurely. He crouched down to see what was wrong. He shook Beyond's shoulder, trying to wake him up. "Beyond," he repeated, by soon realized that he wouldn't respond for a while.

Slowly, Near started to gaze around the room. _The blood around this room seems too old to be just from the other day, _he thought to himself as he searched the room. He spotted an old pieve of paper that lay under the bed. Hesitating at first, Near grabbed the paper and saw some dry blood splattered on it. He started to read it.

Dear Diary,

It's the 3rd month I've had this thing over my eyes. Father says I have to wear it ever since he tried to drown me. He says they're evil. But I don't think that's true. Anyway, today I accidentally broke Mother's vase. As punishment, Father's made me walk on the glass. A few minutes ago he broke my wrist. That's why I have to write with me left hand for a few weeks. I have to do now, or else Father will get mad at me…again…

Near stared at the letter in silence, and then at Beyond. "I wonder…" he mumbled to himself. Vivi came in the room around that time and gasped at the sighed of Beyond. "What happened?" she asked. Near shrugged. "I don't know. He was like that when I got here," he answered. "He collapsed. Why do you think?" Vivi asked.

The room was silent for a moment. Vivi saw Near put the paper in his pocket. "Let's get the others' help in getting him back into the car. We should bring him back to the headquarters as soon possible so he can rest," he said.

"So explain to me again what happened," L said. "Don't know. One minute we were looking for clues and next we're all like, 'Oh my God, the bitch is unconscious,'" Matt explained. "Light, did you have anything to do with this?" L asked. "Why are you always suspecting me when something goes wrong?" Light demanded. "It was a simple 'yes' or 'no' question, Light-kun. No need to become paranoid," L murmured.

Near sat there, quietly thinking up possibilities for the situation. There had to be a reason for Beyond collapsing. Twirling his hair, he decided to question his new theory.

"L, what do you know about Beyond's life before Wammy's?" asked he. L stared at bag of gummi bears in his hand, trying to remember. "No. I'm afraid I don't. All I know for sure is his parents' cause of death," he replied; suddenly feeling bad that he didn't know anything more on his friend's past. "Why do ask?"

Near took out the note from his pocket that he had found and handed it to L. "I found it in the room where Beyond passed out. It looks like a kid wrote it, around eight years old." L frowned at the note, and Near was right. The context showed it can be a small child no older that nine years old. The child was terribly tortured by its "Father" and an empty feeling filled L as he read the letter.

"Near, are you implying that the child who wrote the entry might actually be…" L's voice trailed as Near nodded slowly. "It's not impossible," Mello said. Because of the awful penmanship, we can't really compare it to Beyond's." Light heard a slight sound from behind him and turned around.

"Maybe we could just ask him," he suggested hesitantly as he saw Beyond slowly started to wake up. "Hunh…? What happened…?" he asked wearily, putting a hand to his throbbing head. "You passed out a while ago," Vivi answered. "Oh, no wonder I feel like crap," Beyond murmured. "How did it happen, anway…?"

"…We were just about to ask you the same thing," L said quietly. "What do you mean be that?" Beyond asked. "B, have you ever been to the house you and the others just visited before today?" L questioned. "W-what are you talking about? Of course I haven't," beyond responded, cursing silently to himself for stuttering.

He saw a hint of accusation in L's eyes. "B, I'm serious. There's nothing wrong in telling the truth, _especially _without current situation. Please, just tell us," he said in a somewhat commanding tone. Beyond looked down at his feet and sighed.

"You really want know?" he asked. "Fine. I'll tell you. The house we just went to is the same house I grew up in when I was a kid. I lived there for 12 years; 7 of those years I've been abused by my Father. I was barely able to recognize it, though, because he usually forced me to where a blindfold. The only time he allowed me to take it off was when he'd torture me. I probably collapsed due to the impact of my memories of my old bedroom suddenly just popping into my head. It was rather unpleasant, but it's all over now. Are there any more questions, or are you still not satisfied?"

L was silent, as was everyone else in the room. "Well, whaddya know," Beyond said, crossing his arms. "Same response as I expected." Vivi looked at Beyond, worry written all over her face. "Why…Why didn't you say anything about this?" she asked. "Because I didn't want a pity-party like the one forming right now," Beyond muttered bitterly, getting up and storming out of the room.

Vivi was about to follow him, but Mello shook his head. "It's probably best to leave him alone and drop the subject," he said. Vivi sighed sadly. "Yeah, maybe you're right," she aske silently, sitting back down.


	6. Chapter 5

Beyond walked silently down the sidewalk, ignoring the pedestrians around him. He groaned in frustration as he pushed his hair back. _Damn L,_ he thought. _He had no fucking right to force that information outta me, none at all. _Especially _not in front of everybody else._ A booming sound came from the sky as Beyond felt raindrops start to fall.

"Well, this isn't my day," he muttered, not bothering to shield himself from the rain. "Fuuuuuck. Now everyone's gonna treat me differently. Oh, I'm sure they'll try not to. Pretend everything is just peachy! Their attitudes may not change, but you can tell in their eyes. Yes, those will be full of pity and all that other crap…"

_"It's allllll L's fauultt…"_

Beyond looked up and raised an eyebrow. _What the hell was that? _He thought. _Probably just a sudden thought. Or…is it maybe…? _Beyond immediately shook the thought away. _No, that's stupid. Letting anger increase your paranoia? Relax, all right? Just relax… "Juuuusssst…relaaaaaxx…"_

Bliss washed over him as his breathing started to steady. He had stopped walking and stood there, alone and calm. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. _"Betteeer?" _came the voices he had not heard since his imprisonment. "Yes," Beyond whispered, feeling nothing negative towards them. The voices cackled.

_"Itttt'ss been sooooo long, Beyoooond. We were starrrtiing to think that you forgooot about ussss," _they said. Beyond slightly opened his eyes, staring at the rain drops that rapidly hit the sidewalk. "A foolish thing to think. I could never forget," he said quietly.

_"Henh henh henh, exxceleennt…" _they hissed. _"Youuu haave youur poockett knife with you, correcctttt?" _Beyond reached into his pocket and got it out. He always had it on him. Just in case. _"Gooooood," _the voices said. _"Do you remembeeer how you'd releeeaaaase your angeeeeer?" _Beyond stared at the blade of his pocket knife. He remembered, of course, only too well.

"Yes," he said. There were many people he had released his anger on, so much harm caused by the small knife. Beyond closed his eyes, taking in another deep breath—and plunged the blade into the palm of his other hand.

The voices screeched and wailed inside his head. _"Youuuu little…!" _they yelled in a restrained tone. Beyond, though in extreme pain, smirked triumphantly. "You and I share the same feelings, including—no, _especially _pain. And it just so happens that you guys are the most sensitive against it," he said.

"_Grrrrrr….youuu caaan't keep ruuunning from ussss—" _Beyond bit on his lip and dug the blade further in, making their screams louder. Soon, they finally began to cease. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, he let his knees give in. Staring at a rain puddle that had formed in front of him, he saw his eyes go from an illuminating red back to its normal obsidian color.

His blood, now flowing rapidly from his wound, mixed in with the water around him. "Has it really been that long since I've taken someone's life…?" Beyond asked himself, regretting that he was starting to sound like a helpless child.

He had almost forgotten about those wretched voices. The only time he would hear them was when they wanted him to kill… and he sure as hell would try his best to ignore them. _They're probably the reason I've been considering murder lately, _he thought. _They also probably sent that damned flashback I had back at the old house. That'd explain why it seemed so real…_

He put the pocket knife back in his pocket and stood up. He started to feel a bit light-headed due to the loss of blood and grabbed hold of telephone poke to balance himself. He started to feel sick to his stomach and started to take huge breaths.

_Can't react here, _he thought. _Wait until you get back home, where no one can disturb you. Then you can freak out all you want, all right B? _He got out the knife once more, staring at it carefully, and threw it away. _Just to avoid the temptation, _he thought, and walked off.

Light was typing on his computer and looking at the worried expression on L's face. "What's wrong Ryuzaki?" questioned Light.

"Nothing Yagami-kun. Anything new?"

"Just the same erratic kill—what the hell?" Light suddenly said. L looked up in alarm. "What is it?" he asked. "That house that we just went to, Beyond's old place. It looks like there were 2 more murders," Light announced. "So soon?" L asked in disbelief. Light nodded. "Look here. Says that two college going students, both male, were found dead, mostly likely after arriving in the house to hide from someone they pulled a prank on."

L bit on his thumbnail. "That means that the murderer, most likely the same one, had either just arrived at the house after you left, or the murderer was there the whole time…" he theorized. "Impossible. We would have noticed if someone was there," Light said. "Not quite true," L began. "If I remember correctly, only one room on the side of the hall Beyond was supposed to investigate had been checked before he became unconscious, leaving the rest of them as easy hiding places."

Light knew the detective had a point. They had all left when Near had found Beyond. If the murderer was there hiding, he or she wouldn't have had to hide for long. "I see…So what are we gonna work on first? Finding out who the killer is, or how we can help Beyond?" he asked. L frowned. "I don't think he wants us to do anything about it. The past is the past. Give him some time and he'll get over it," he said.

Light sighed. "All right," he said. He still couldn't get over Beyond's horrid childhood. It was hard for him to believe that someone who acted like Beyond did would have a childhood like that. He knew he had to force it out of his mind, though. As Beyond had said, he didn't want to be pitied. Still…

"Did the others leave?" L asked. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Most of them went home," Light answered. L noticed Light's distraction. "Just forget about it, Light-kun. That's what he wants," he advised. Light looked at L, frowning. "You can't, can you?" he asked.

L didn't say anything. He didn't like it that he didn't know this about Beyond after all of the years they knew each other. Maybe he could've helped, or done _something_ at least. But what was there to do? Nothing, he supposed. "Don't let this new murder case distract you from the Kira Case, Light," he said, deliberately changing the subject. "…Don't worry. I won't," Light replied, feeling that it was best just to go with it instead of making L feel more disturbed.


	7. Chapter 6

Misa let out an exaggerated sigh. "Where's Light? He said he would be here by now," she whined. Rem sighed as well, who had remained quiet and at her side. A knock on the door caught Misa's attention. Light came in looking weary with Ryuk following behind. "What's wrong, Light?" she asked, closing her Death Note. Light closed his eyes and groaned. "So much. First there's this new murder case, and then this thing with Beyond. Although, that particular part had a greater impact on Ryuzaki than he," he explained, sitting on the couch and putting his face in his hands. Misa frowned.

"Do you know what's wrong with Beyond yet?" she asked. Light shook his head. "I know as much as you do on the subject," he replied. "Ryuzaki's trying to act indifferent, but it's obvious he feels guilty for not having any prior knowlage to this." Biting into an apple, Ryuk laughed. Light looked over at the shinigami in annoyance. "What's so funny?" he asked. "Hyuk hyuk hyuk, it's the fact that the great Kira is concerned about L," Ryuk answered. Light grunted. "Kira doesn't care about L's feelings. However, Ryuzaki is Light's friend, meaning that Light cares," he responded.

Ryuk laughed again. "You sound like your girlfriend with all her 'Misa Misa' third person crap," he remarked, chewing loudly and rudely. Light rolled his eyes and turned on the TV, taking out his Death Note as he did so. "Whatever's wrong with him, I can't let it get me distracted from Kira, or else Ryuzaki will definately notice and raise his suspiciouns," he said tiredly, changing the channel to the news. "Light," Misa started, voice trailing. She wanted to comfort him, but he looked as though he didn't want to be. She sighed, not wanting to disturb him._ I wonder if Beyond's doing any better..._ she thought.

Beyond didn't know what to do. He lay in his bed, pondering all the possible consequences. He couldn't handle this. After many years of silence, they were coming out of nowhere, stronger than ever. If he didn't kill someone, they would only get more powerful until Beyond was back to his old, murderous self again. Suddenly, Beyond heard something that sounded like a music box. Beyond looked around for the source in his dark, moonlit room. The song that he was hearing was "Londen Bridge is Falling Down"; a song that he had once enjoyed as a child. Then he heard humming along with it. Suddenly, instead of the usual lyrics, they were replaced with something more ominous.

_Kiiiiill them, Beeeyond_

_Kill them all_

_Kill them all_

_Kill them all_

_Kiiiiill them, Beeeyond_

_Kill them all_

_Niiiiice aaaand blooodyy_

Beyond clasped his ears, trying to block out the sound, but it was no use; the music was coming from the _inside_ of his head. "Leave me alone, damn it!" Beyond yelled, grasping his hair frantically. Instead, the music just got louder and louder. Beyond knew what he had to do to silence them. He needed to _kill_. Why not? Didn't he miss the blood? And that feeling he got whenever he would hear his victim's scream was amazing, wasn't it? Yes, there was nothing wrong with killing them. The ones he would kill were bound to die anyway, right? He was just there to make it easier for them. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...

_No! _Beyond screamed in his head. He wouldn't submit that easily. He wouldn't kill someone just because of a stupid song that refused to get out of his head. But, at the rate the singing was going, he wouldn't be able to sleep. He just needed to distract himself in the meantime. He'd gone nights without sleeping before. But what was there to distract himself with? T.V., probably.

He went over to it and started flipping through the channels. But what he saw were just encouraging the urge to kill. On one channel, _Criminal Minds _was showing an episode where a man would kill people and cut their eyes out. Too much murder and blood. The next channel was showing _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_. To much murder and blood as well. Next was the news, broadcasting from a grusome murder scene. Too much real crime. The channel after that was showing a string of anime. Beyond settled for that one, until he saw a man covered in stitches struggling to keep his sanity and hallucinating. Too much insanity, blood, and situations relating to his own life.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, catching Beyond by surpirse. The song finally stopped. Beyond sighed in relief and went to answer the door. It was Vivi. Beyond smiled. "Hey, you okay? You're not usually up this late," he greeted. "I was worried about you," she replied, staring down at her feet. She caught sight Beyond's bandaged hand where he had stabbed himself. "What happened to you hand?" she asked in an alarmed tone.

"My hand...?" Beyond had forgotten about it, though now that he remembered the throbbing pain returned. "I, uh...had a little accident in the kitchen."

Vivi looked at him with disbelief written all over her face. "You don't slip up that bad," she said. Beyond shrugged. "There's a first time for everything, right?" he asked. He stepped back, allowing her to enter. "Beyond," Vivi started. "Are you okay? I wish you had said something before we went to the crimescene. That way we might've been able to prevent all of this from happening."

Beyond shook his head. "It's all right. I just panicked, no big deal," he said. He started to walk away when Vivi caught hold of his good hand. "Please, Beyond. I can't help you if you won't let me. I don't want to feel so useless to you..." Beyond turned around and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Don't ever think that you could ever be useless, Vivian. You just being here makes me feel a hell of a lot better than I was before. Hey," he whispered, wiping away a teardrop from the corner of her eye with his thumb. "There's no need to cry."

Vivi wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry. You just seemed to be in so much pain and I couldn't do anything..." she started. Beyond put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "That's all my fault for not telling you. Stop blaming yourself for things that I'm responsible for," he said quietly. Vivi looked up at him, staring straight into his eyes. "Let me help," she whispered. Beyond held her securely in his arms. "I'm fine," he told her reassuringly, pressing his lips softly against her forehead.

_"Not forrr loooooooooonnnnnnnggggg~"_


	8. Chapter 7

Darkness. That was all he could see. He walked forth, oblivious of his surroundings or to where he was heading. _What the hell is this? _Beyond thought. He turned to something that sounded like water dripping from a sink that hadn't been completely turned off. "Beyond…?" someone called from behind him. Beyond felt a bit of relief when he recognized the voice as Vivian's. He turned around, ready to greet her with open arms, and froze. Vivi was on the ground, bloodied and bruised. The dripping sound was coming from the blood that fell from the tips of her bangs.

"Vivi!" Beyond yelled in alarm. She didn't seem to take notice. Instead, another figure walked into view, adding on to Beyond's bewilderment. The other person seemed to be…_him._

The other Beyond Birthday was grinning evilly and laughing to himself, wielding a bloody hammer in his hand. "So many lives to steal, so little time~!" he said in a sing-song voice. He looked at Vivi with a smirk and swung at her head with the hammer. Hard. "Vivi, no!" the real Beyond exclaimed, or, at least tried to exclaim. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, only a muffled sound would escape his lips. He tried running to her, but that was no use either; his feet felt as though they were glued onto the floor. The other Beyond caught attention of this and laughed again, his bright red eyes revealing great joy.

"It's gonna happen. I think you know that already. No matter how hard you try, you're gonna wanna kill again. You're eyes will be just like mines; pretty red orbs filled with blood lust. Just like old times~!" He raised his hammer again and aimed for Vivi's face. Beyond couldn't stand to watch anymore. He tried his best to force his mind out of the hellish nightmare, to break away from what he hoped would never come to be. "Stop! Just stop!" he screamed. Then, miraculously, the image faded away and he woke up with a start.

Vivi, unharmed, sat next to him with a damp rag in her hand. "You okay? Seemed like you were having a nightmare," she said, handing Beyond the rag. He accepted and held it to his forehead, breathing heavily. "Yeah. You didn't try waking me up?" he asked. "Believe me, I tried. You wouldn't budge," she replied with a hopeless shrug. Beyond nodded and they both stayed silent. "You don't wanna talk about it, do you?" Vivi asked after a while. "No," he answered softly, not wanting to look at her in fear of seeing her as she was in his nightmare.

Vivi looked at the clock. "Well, at least you were able to sleep through the night. Wanna see what's happening at the headquarters?" she suggested. "You go ahead. I'll catch up later," Beyond said after hesitating. Vivi could tell he wanted to be alone and nodded. "All right. I'll see you there, then," she said, and left shortly after that.

"_It'ssss abouutttt tiiimeee sheeeee leftttttt," _the voices returned. "Why…?" Beyond asked weakly. The voices seemed amused. _"Whyyyy whaaaattttt?" _they asked. Beyond gripped his blanket tightly and squeezed the rag, letting water drip out. "Why do you have to do this? Wht can't you just leave me alone? I'm tired of doing your biddings. I'm tired of hearing your whispers. I'm tired of all of it."

The voices chuckled. _"Do youu know what youur reaaallyy tired of, Beyoonndddd? Resistinnng. Sayiiiing nooooo. Nottt cooperatiiiiinngg wiiith ussssss. Jusssstt admit ittt; youuu miiisss killiiiiiing as muchhh as wee do," _they said. Beyond scoffed. "Never. I can't let you control me after all that's happened," he replied stubbornly. The voices laughed. _"Ifff that'sss the case, whyyy do you haveee a knifeee inside your pillowww cassseee?" _they asked. The question caught Beyond by suprise. He immediately got up and grabbed his pillow, stripping it of its case. With a clumsy, calttering osund, a knife fell out, reflecting off of the light. Beyond's eyes widened at the sight of it.

_"Whaaat? Don't teellll usss youu don'ttt rememberr placiing it innn theree," _said the voices in a amused tone. Beyond didn't know what to say. They were right; he _didn't _remember putting it there. The only time he did that was back then, while still a murderer. It had become a force of habit that he would do subconciously. It wasn't until he stopped his murderous ways that he stopped with the knife thing. What did this mean?_ "Itttt meaaanss you'ree turninng back into youur olllddd selff againnn."_

Beyond shook his head. "No," he whispered harshly. "I won't let that happen again, and that's final." As soon as he changed into a different pair of clothes, Beyond left his home, slamming the door behind him.


	9. Chapter 8

L, Light, Near, and Vivi sat in the room, silent. Everyone was thinking of theories on how to save Beyond from this horrible mental state he was about to be engulfed into. L bit his thumbnail, his face showing that he was in deep concentration. He remembered the last time Beyond was like this. The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases had been one of the terrible results. "How are we gonna do this?" Vivi asked. "Well, we need to think," Near started. "You said that you heard Beyong murmur something in his sleep about voices trying to control him. And L. You said that back in the facility he was kept in after his arrest, guards have reported him cursing at someone who wasn't visibly there. They came up with the conclusion that he was hearing things in his head. So? Are these 'voices' real? Or is it just a sign of insanity?"

"From what we know so far, they could be both," Light said. "And remember what happened at his old house? We don't know what exactly went on, but my best guess is that-just saying that if these 'voices' are real- they caused him so much pain that he just lost conciousness. They might be the reason why he had an 'accident' that resulted with one of his hands being injured," Vivi added. Near turned his attention to L. "L. You're the only one who's been in this situation. How was Beyond acting the last time he heard things? How did it stop?" he asked. L was silent, memories flooding back into his mind.

"The first time I noticed a difference was when we were 17. Beyond was acting as he usually did. I remember telling him that I had to go work on a case. I went to the quietest room in the orphanage while he went to ours. After about an hour or two, I came back and he was gone. When I found him, he seemed different. And then, that's when I relized that he had just commited his first murder..." L's voice trailed. Vivi frowned. "Who did he kill?" she asked. "Does it really matter _who _it is?" L asked dubiously.

"Every piece of information that we have matters," Light said. L shook his head. "That specific piece of information was confidential," he said. Near sighed. "If you don't want to tell us at the moment, then I guess we'll just have to wait," he said. "The question is; how are we going to help him at this very moment?"

"Talking about me?"

Everyone's heads shot up at the sound of the voice. "B," L stammered. Beyond smirked. "The one and only," he replied slyly.

Near decided to get straight down to business. "Beyond, are you getting...temptations? To kill?" he asked. The question caught Beyond completely off guard. His hesitation was enough of an answer. Near sighed. "Beyond, do you hear things that no one else but you can?" he went on with his questioning. Beyond frowned. "I...well..." he closed his eyes. "Yes."

"And you've been keeping this a secret from us because...?"

"Because I can fight them off."

"Is that your pride talking, Beyond?"

"..."

Near got up from his seat. "We can help you, Beyond. You just have to let us," he said. Beyond shook his head, still silent. Near's expression remained emotionless. "Vivi, L, outside, please," he said, heading towards the door. Vivi and L reluctantly followed.

Light was about to leave as well before Beyond called him. "Yagami, do you mind staying for a little bit?" Beyond asked. Light turned around and hesitantly went over to Beyond. "What's up?" he asked. Beyond put his hands in his pockets. "I know you're Kira," he said. Light made himself look angry. "You're with this again? Man, seriously, you're like L in more than looks. I've said this a million times. I'm not Ki-"

"Quit the crap," Beyond said, stopping Light in mid-sentence. "In case you've forgotten, I have the eyes. I can't see your lifespan. Therefore, you are Kira," Beyond finished. Light narrowed his eyes. "So what now? Are you going to arrest me or something?" he asked. Beyond laughed, though it sounded a bit more sad than humored. "Though it would mean regaining the title of L's successor, it's not my place. A killer arresting a killer. Does that sound logical to you?" he asked.

"What is it, then?" Light asked. Beyond frowned and took a seat in one of the chairs. To Light's suprise, he was sitting normally instead of imitating L. "Yagami, with each passing day they keep on getting louder and louder. I don't know how much longer I can control it. But if I go to my old self and even _slightly_ hurt Vivian, I want you to kill me," he said.

Light's eyes widened. "What?" he exclaimed. "Please, Light. You're the only one who can. If Ryuk hasn't explained it to you, I will. Since I was born with the shinigami eyes, I'm half shinigami. The only way I can die is naturally, as in by old age or sickness. That's why I didn't die when I set myself on fire. I can't die by force. The only way that someone could kill me would be with a Death Note."

"But why?" Light asked. Beyond closed his eyes. "Light, if I kill Vivi, how will I be able to live with myself? Or worse, what if I kill her and feel...happy?" he asked, struggling to get that last word out. "I highly doubt you would," Light said. "You don't understand," Beyond replied. "Remember A from Wammy's House?" Light nodded. "Yeah, L told me he commited suicide," he said. "That's a lie," Beyond said. "That was around the time the voices got to me. _I _was the one who hung him. And L, being the good guy he is, blamed it on himself, saying that he pressured A as his successor. I still don't know why he did, though. After what I did..."

"That was a long time ago," Light said. Beyond shook his head. "Even so, it's still my fault. But back to the point. To kill someone with your Death Note, you have to know their true name. In case you didn't know, Beyond Birthday is my real name, not just an alias," he said. "Are you serious? Your parents gave you that name?" Light asked in disbelief. "No, I had it legally changed when I was 13," Beyond said.

"But I thought you had to be at least 18 to do that," Light said. Beyond shrugged. "Well, when you grow up at Wammy's, you get connections," he said. "But I'm serious, Yagami. Even one little cut on Vivi that was caused by me, you have to write my name, because it'll only get worse." Beyond got up and startd to leave. Light balled his hands into fists. "Hey, Beyond," he called. Beyond turned around to find himself getting punched in the face.

"What the hell?" Beyond said furiously. "I don't want you talking like that," Light said angrily. "You're just giving up on yourself! How do you think Vivi will feel if you died? Her love for you is just as strong as your love for her! Do you think she'd want to live any longer? Everyone is trying to help you. Trust them. Plus, what do you think they'd do if they found out _I _killed you? They'd have me executed! Even worse, they might drag Misa and Mikami along with me. Try something different and have some faith, Beyond! Don't give in!"

Beyond stared at Light, utterly speachless. What Light said was true. He was letting the voices get the best of him. Was he really even putting up much of a fight? Beyond stared guiltily at his feet. "You're right," he said quietly. Light seemed to have calmed down a little. "Thank you," he said in relief. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go work on the Kira Case."

Beyond smirked. "If you say so," he mused. Light hesitated before asking, "Oh, and Beyond. Why aren't you going to tell L that I'm Kira?" Beyond chuckled. "I could tell that L cares about you, even though he might not show it at times. And I know that you care about him as well. I'm gonna let you guys enjoy it while you can," he answered. Light smiled. "Thanks," he said, then started to leave.

"Oh, and Light?" Beyond called. When Light turned around, Beyond socked him in the face. Light gritted his teeth and fell on a couch. "An eye for an eye," Beyond said with a smirk, then left. Light groaned and rubbed the spot where Beyond hit him. "Yup. Just like L in more than looks," he muttered.


	10. Chapter 9

"So what do you propose?" Near asked.

L sighed. "That we must keep B under surveillance. Follow him, see if there's anything unusual than his regular activities. If this keeps up, and these so called 'voices' keep unfluencing him," L closed his eyes, "then it won't be long until he commits a murder."

Vivi shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe this is happening to him..." she whispered. "I mean, he's such a great guy..."

"Need I remind you of how you two first met?" Near said.

Vivi let out a deep breath and shook her head. She rememberd it as if it was yesterday. Beyond had tried to murder her; it was his only intention. He knew about how she was an orphan from Wammy's, and he knew that killing her might have affected L, at least slightly. Vivi had been rescused by Matt and Mello...but not before she had noticed that Beyond wasn't really a bad guy. Sure, he just wanted to spill her blood, but she saw his eyes show mercy and regret when he had hurt her, even if it was just a strong grip on the wrist or a tiny scratch. She was also the last person he had attempted to murder.

"He's a killer, Vivi." Near wasn't afraid of admitting the truth. "That's just what he is. He's killed before, taken many lives, and he'll do it again. He might be our friend, but that doesn't make him different from any other killer."

"You're starting to sound like Kira," Vivi muttered bitterly.

"All right," L said, releasing the tension. "We need to choose someone to watch him. I believe Maty would fit the job. According to Mello, he's good at following people, making himself obvious and yet completely unnoticeable."

Vivi nodded and took out her phone, dialing Matt's number. Near turned to L, whose expression had become emotionless. "L...I know this must be hard-"

"No," L irrupted. "I had absolutely loathed B from the time he left Wammy's, from the time he became a murderer. We finally got along once he went with Vivi. We were friends once more. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't sure into that monster once again."

Beyond walked down the streets alongside Matt, who had coincedentally ran into him while exiting a GameStop. Matt swung his plastic bag happily. Beyond was slightly irritated by his cheerfulness.

"What game did you get anyway?" he asked, wondering if knowing would help him understand Matt's joy any better.

Matt flashed a grin. "Final Fantasy XIII-2," he answered. "I've been trying to save money for this game for a long time, but eventually I got tired of saving and stole the last remaining money I needed from Mells."

"Which was all of it, I assume?"

"Only 10! Man, give me at least a little bit of credit."

They slowed down when they came to a McDonald's. "Hey, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," Matt said. "Wanna get somethin' to eat over there?"

Beyond shrugged. "I just ate. Maybe just for some dessert, I guess." They both entered. Beyond took a seat near the window while Matt went to order. He soon came back with tray. He handed Beyond an oreo McFlurry as he took a bite out of Big Mac. "So, Beyond. How ya been lately? Any better?"

Beyond ate some of the icecream and shrugged. "Eh, I'm not _as_ bad as I was," he answered half-heartedly.

"Well that's good," Matt said with a smile. Beyond nodded and stared out the window, licking the plastic spoon before putting it back in the cup for another spoonful of icecream. That's when he noticed her: A girl, most likely 15 or 16 years old, laughing with her group of friends. She looked like she was having a great time, carefree and feeling absolutely wonderful. He looked above her head, just out of habit.

She had three days left to live.

Only three.

_"Onllyyyyy threeee."_

That surely gave enough time for him to plan her death. Yes, it was plenty. He'd stalk her for next three days, get her alone, and then, when the time was right...

_Wait, what the hell am I thinking? _Beyond thought. _I'm not a murderer anymore. No, I can't kill. I can't kill...but...she's going to die anyways, right? It's not like I'm taking anything away from her. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not killing her...no...I'm just...just...helping her make sure she dies on the day she's supposed to. I'm helping her die. And if I drug her, she won't have to feel a thing, just like I did in Los Angeles. Of course, that would be taking the fun out of it...the drugs won't have to be necessary...Hmm...Three days..._

"Beyond?"

Beyond's eyes suddenly shot up at the gamer. "Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts."

Matt nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. Anyways, as I was saying, do you have any plans for the next few days?"

Beyond smiled and ate some more of his McFlurry. "Actually, Matty, I think I just might."


	11. Chapter 10

"How's the case going?" Light asked, sitting down with his cup of coffee next to L. The muder case that had caused them to go to Beyond's old home had still remained unsolved. It should have been fairly simple to find out who the culprit was, but it turned out that the murderer was actually quite dilligent with his work. No fingerprints, no trace of DNA on the victims' bodies other than their own. This case was turning out to be quite difficult.

L took a sip out of his own cup of coffee, keeping his eyes on the monitor. "The murderer claims to be pro-Kira...the actions of the person seem to beg to differ. The victims were innocent, at least on legal terms. They've committed no felanies, have never even been pulled over by a cop for speeding or passing a red light. They haven't been involved with another murder case; neither have any of their friends or family members. These are random killings; this goes completely _against _what Kira wants. Yes, this character is rather confused..."

Light sighed and turned on the monitor in front of him. This was just great. This would just turn everyone against Kira. That wouldn't stop him from killing, though; oh, no, of course not. Still, he needed people to think that Kira was for the people, which he was. Here he was, trying to cleanse the world of evil, while at the same time someone was cleansing Japan of purity in his honor. The only way this could possibly benefit Kira was how distracted this was getting L and how much he'd been straying from the actual Kira Case, what with also worrying about Beyond.

"L..."

"Yes, Light-kun?"

Light shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Are you sure you don't have too much on your plate right now? I mean, what with this case and Beyond's mental breakdown a few days ago..."

L shook his head. "I think I'm capable." He put his cup down and took a box of strawberrry flavored Pocky out of his pocket. "At the moment, I'd rather just focus on this mystery murderer and get it over and done with, if you wouldn't mind. It's difficult for me to try to profile him. His actions and words completely contradict eachother. The only goal that's made itself obvious is not to get caught. Leave no evidence. It reminds me of the L.A.B.B. murder case, actually. You couldn't really tell what B was planning if you didn't have prior knowledge of his intentions...Just like B..."

Suddenly, it hit him. There was always the small chance that it could have been Beyond, but it wasn't likely. No, he had to think deeper. The muderer was contradicting himself. His true intention was unclear. Did he really have an intention, other than the sadistic joy of killing? Therer had to be a deeper meaning to this. The murderer talked insane, and yet he carried everything out with precise work. He made no sense, and yet perfect sense at the same time. He acted as though...As though...

L suddenly pressed a button in front of him that activated the micophone. "Watari," he said into it. "I need you to get me the files of every former orphan that attended Wammy's. I need to know everything about every single one of them. Especially of any runaways."

"Right away."

"Thank you."

L let go of the button and bit his thumbnail in contemplation. Light stared at him curiously, wondering what had lead L to ask for the files. None the less, he asked nothing, knowing that if L wanted him to know, he would tell him. "All right. Now that you have some sort of lead on this guy, what about Beyond?"

"What about him?" L asked distractedly, closing the window he was on and opening up a new one.

Light stared at him in disbelief. He knew L couldn't have possibly forgotten about Beyond in a matter of seconds. "What do you mean 'what about him?' Aren't you still concered about his mental health?"

"I've got Matt surveilling him at this very moment, actually. If something's wrong with Beyond, Matt will be sure to tell me," L answered.

Light narrowed his eyes. "So what? You're just going to forget about him because you have someone else looking after him?"

L shook his head. "Of course not. It's still there in my mind. I'm just using this as an advantage to concentrate on things I need to be working on now."

This seemed a bit heartless to Light, but still, it seemed somewhat resonable. L _was _the world's greatest detective; this was probably one of his many methods he used in order to gain and keep this title. Light frowned and stared at the monitor in front of him. "Whatever works with you, I guess."

Okay. This wasn't going to work out as planned. Matt had been following Beyond around for quite a while like a lost puppy. Beyond had managed to stalk the girl, but not as much as he would have liked to. He wondered why the hell Matt wouldn't go away. Finally, he let out a deep breath and decided to just ask it straight out. "Matt, why the hell are you hanging out with me so much?"

_Ah, finally he acknowledges it, _Matt thought. He had already prepared an excuse when L had called him to look after Beyond. He quickly sombered up, looking away from Beyond as though any eye contact would reveal all of his troubles. "I...well...do we really have to talk about it...?"

Beyond was curious at this point. "Did something happen or what?"

Matt looked down at his feet and put his hands in his pockets. "Really, B, I don't want to talk about it..."

"Why. Are. You. Here."

"I told you, I don't-"

"Matt!"

Matt stopped in defeat, sighing. "You wanna know so bad? Fine. I was being a complete asshole to Mello and got exactly what I deserved. He's giving me the silent treatment, and it's annoying as hell. I just needed to get away for a while, and you seem like the only person who doesn't have something better to do. Now can you _please_ get off my case?"

Matt could tell by the expression on Beyond's face that he had completely fallen for his act. He resisted the urge to let the satisfied smirk appear on his face and instead replaced it with a cigarrette. Beyond just shook his head. "I didn't know you two could get angry at eachother," he remarked. "You guys are the best of friends, aren't you?"

Matt gave an apathetic shrug and lighted the cigarrette, making sure the fire of the lighter wasn't so close to Beyond. "Whatever. Can we just not talk about him now?" he asked, somewhat harshly. Beyond nodded in agreement. Matt was proud of how good of an act he was pulling off. "Thanks. C'mon, let's go."


	12. Chapter 11

"Here are the files."

Watari placed a tall stack files next to L. The young detective nodded at the elder man. "Thank you, Watari," he said as he picked one of the files with both of his index fingers and thumbs. On it had a black old english A on it. L looked at it sadly and put it down. "That probably won't do us any good anymore..."

Watari looked at L with concern. "You're not overwhelmed with all of this work, are you?" he asked.

L glanced up at Watari and sighed. "I'm fine. I've handled multiple cases at the same time before. This isn't any different," he said.

"I understand. In any case, might I suggest that you look at the orphans that might have strong feelings towards Beyond Birthday? It seems that since one of the victims ended up dead in his old home when nobody was living there, as you've read, it might have not been a coincedence."

L's eyes widened. Watari had a point. "Of course...it might have been completely deliberate. Maybe the muderer knew that this would trigger something in Beyond's mind that would make him go completely insane again...He might think that he's better than Beyond...That he could surpass Beyond anyday, either as detective, or a murderer..."

Watari smiled and left the room as L continued to mutter to himself and put the pieces together. L was a genius, but every now and then he obviously needed a little assistance.

"Heh...so much blood...so much death...It's so beautiful..."

The killer stared at his latest victim with a gigantic grin on his face. He splattered blood all over the room. His victim was nothing more than a bloodied pulp now. And yet, he, standing in the middle of it all, was absolutely clean and fresh. The scent of blood, though nausiating to others, gave him one of the best feelings in the world. Just the very knowledge of knowing someone was murdered made his heart race with excitement.

_"Gooooooood wooooorrrrrkkk_," the voices in his head said to him.

"Thanks," the murderer said giddily, skipping around the blood puddles he had caused in different parts of the room. "I think it's my best piece of art so far! What do you guys want me to do next, hmmmm~?"

_"It'sssssss concerniiinng Beyond Biiiirrrrrrrrthdaaayyy."_

The murderer pouted. "I thought I already messed him up with the crime scene at his old house? Are you saying he still hasn't givin in?"

_"He'ssss tryinnng not to. Althoughh, I don't thiiiink hisssss grip on sanityyyy will be stronger any lonnnngerr,"_ the voices replied.

The murderer laughed. "He's an idiot! It's a wonder on how he was 2nd in line in the first place! What, he's all about morals now? Doesn't he know it would be so much easier to just let go?"

The voices chuckled._ "He'sssss almossssttt at thaaatt pointtt. Theree is someone prevennnting him from doooing sooooooo, thoughhh. Someone issss looking afteeeeer him to make suuure thiisssss doesn't happennnn on L'sssss orderrrrsss. Hissss name issssss Maiiiillll Jeeeevaaaas. Riiiiing anyyyyyy beelllllssssssss?"_

"'Course it does!" the muderer replied matter-of-factly. "I know about every single person in the history of Wammy's House! In fact...isn't that him right now with BB right now?"

Through the slightly opened shades, the murderer saw the two pass the house. Matt was talking energetically to Beyond. The killer could tell that Beyond wanted more than anything to just get out of there, away from the gamer. He chuckled. "I'll exit through the back. I'll then try to distract Jeevas and allow Beyond to escape. You'll let him know when, right?"

_"But of couuuuuurse_," the voices replied with a chuckle. The murderer laughed as well and did what he said he would, exiting through the backdoor. He put on a messy black wig, gray hoddie, and glasses as he did from his backpack, which he turned inside out so it would be a different color than it had been when he first entered.

Matt and Beyond hadn't gone too far. He followed them, quietly, making sure he would be inconspicious. "Kay, go," he whispered to the voices.

_"Beeeyyyoonnnnddd."_

Beyond looked up in alarm when he heard them. _"Dooonnnnn't worryyyyy. Youu'll have your channce to escapppe soooooon enoughhhhh. Thennn you can get to that giirrrll you'veee been eyeinggg." _Beyond didn't respond in any way. In fact, he was actually glad to hear them.

The murderer behind them took out a Nintendo 3DS and started pretending he had been playing it the whole time. He then purposely bumped into Matt. Matt turned around, suprised. "Huh?"

"Oh, s-sorry!" The killer stammered, using an accent completely different from his own. "I should've been more careful of where I was going. I was just playing my new 3DS and-"

"No way!" Matt said in amazement, quickly examining the game system. "Dude, I still have to get one of these! How are the graphics? Is it really 3D?"

The killer nodded excitedly. "Yeah, man! The graphics can get really distracting though. Specially with games like Mario Kart 7."

"Dude, I always wondered why they call it Mario Kart 7 when they don't even have 2-6!"

"I know, right?"

Beyond chuckled to himself and tapped Matt's shoulder. "Hey, I'm gonna head home, kay?" he said. Matt just waved him off dissmissivley. Beyond found it humorous how easily you could distract him. He headed towards the girl's house, which he had found out it's location after stalking her, despite Matt's constant presence. Once he got there, he looked through the window, which shades had remained completely open. He saw the girl, watching TV and talking on the phone. There was no car in the driveway. Her parents weren't home. He laughed. This was going to be fun.


	13. Chapter 12

**"Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen **_**me**_**. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-with what caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work!"**

**-**_**The Tell-Tale Heart**_**, Edgar Allan Poe**

Beyond laughed wickedly to himself as the girl whimpered in the corner of her living room, badly wounded. "Isn't it ashame, my dear Katherine?" Beyond asked with a grin, twirling his blood-stained knife. "Your parents leaving a poor, helpless child like you at home alone while they try to kiss ass to your father's boss. _Henh henh henh, _so typical of parents, don't you think?"

Fifteen year old Katherine Graj looked up at him with wide eyes. "W-What do you w-want?" she stammered. "P-Please! I d-d-don't want to die! I'll do anything!"

This made Beyond laugh even more. Here came the begging he'd been waiting for. "Of course you don't want to die. In the end, do any of us want to die?" He sat in his usual position in front of her and started to stroke her bloodied hair. "Such a beautiful girl you are. If I were to let you live, you'd probably be able to get any boy you'd please. Such a bright future you can have if you live after tonight. Depending on if this doesn't tramatize you, that is." He got his knife and slowly cut her cheek. The girl bit the inside of her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes.

_Do I really want to do this? _Beyond suddenly asked himself. _Why am I doing this, anyway? _

He finally looked at the girl, really looked at her this time. She was in pain. She was frightened. She was innocent. What did she really do to deserve this? Sure, she was going to die today anyway, but...did it have to be like this?

_What am I doing_...he thought. _I'm...I'm helping her._ His thoughts quickly morphed into something more sinister. _I already showed her my face. I already did sooooooo much damage here already! This is her last night, B, make it the best one she's ever had!_

He looked above her head. The numbers were rapidly decreasing as she lost more and more blood. He softly lifted her chin up so there eyes would be locked on eachother's. "Shh, don't cry." His voices was tender and caring, almost comforting. "You'll soon be out of your misery."

Very quickly and swiftly, Beyond took his knife and plunged it into Katherine's throat. Her eyes grew wide and she coughed up blood. Beyond smirked and took the knife out. The body fell limply on the blood stained carpet.

Beynod stood there, staring at the girl, letting this all sink in. He had just killed someone. After all this time, he had taken someone's life once again. He started to laugh. And laugh and laugh. He couldn't contain himself; it was just too hilarious. He wrapped his arms around himself and fell to his knees, still laughing. "Kya ha ha ha! It's been too fuckin' long! It feels so great to do this again! Kya ha ha ha ha!"

That's when he heard a gun being loaded an held against the back of his head. "I can't believe you..."

Beyond smiled. "Matty. When did you decide to join the party, hmm?"

Matt gritted his teeth and slid the gun down to the side of his neck. "Why, Beyond? I thought you changed...You were doing so well...Please, give me a good reason to explain why the hell you were lead to murdering this girl!"

Beyond chuckled to himself and smirked. "You want to know why I killed her, Jeevas?" He turned his head to look at Matt, his eyes glowing red. _ "Because I can."_

__That was it. Without hesitation, Matt immdeiately pulled the trigger. The tranquliser dart quickly took affect, and Beyond collapsed on the floor, unconcious. Matt then took out his phone from his pocket and dialed L. "L, I'm sorry. I was too late. The old Beyond is back."

That night, everyone met at the Kira Investigation HQ. Light and Misa felt a horrible sense of deja vu as they stood there with the others. It was the same room that they had been when they had to be confined for being the top Kira suspects. It was exactly the same as it was last time.

In the many monitors that were there had Beyond there, still unconcious and fully restrained in a straight jacket. L couldn't bare to stare at him, but did so despite that. Everyone was extremely nervous. Though they all knew in the back of their minds that it would eventually lead down to this, they were still having a hard time believing that Beyond had killed again. All except Near. He refrained from saying that he had told them so, knowing it would be extremely immature of him.

"I'm so sorry," Matt kept apologizing. "I fucked up big time. I didn't mean to. Someone's dead because of me...I'm sorry..."

Mello wrapped his arm around Matt. "You didn't know it was that bad. Besides, from what we know from the previous murders Beyond committed, he only kills those who are going to die anyways..."

"That doesn't matter! She still died a horrible death because I allowed it to happen!" Matt retorted.

"Matt, please calm yourself," L said. He continued to sit there, waiting for Beyond to wake up. Matt was suprised at how emotionless L seemed at the moment but said nothing. Slowly, Beyond's eyes fluttered open.

"Hunh...?"

L narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm dissapointed in you, B."

At first, Beyond had no idea what L was talking about. And then, he began to remember the previous events. His eyes widened in realization. They had taken control. _The voices had taken complete control._ He hadn't even put up much of a fight this time. And because of that, someone was dead. "Oh God..."

L continued, "B, you do realize that your mental state has led you to take the li-"

"You have to keep me in here," Beyond quickly inturrupted. L raised a suspicious eyebrow and tilted his head.

"You want to be kept in confinement?"

"Hell no, does anyone really? No, I _need _to be kept here. It's going to happen again, L. Just like it did with Alex. They're gonna make me kill again. They're going to make me _enjoy_ it. L_, _you can't let me out of here. Please."

_"Whaattt are youuuu doiiiinng?" _the voices asked suddenly. Beyond tried his best to shove them out of his mind at this moment, but they were persistant.

"You do realize that you may be locked up in here for quite a long period of time. Perhaps a few weeks. Perhaps a few months-"

"Perhaps a few years!" Beyond said, straining to get what he needed to say out with every last ounce of sanity he had left. "I don't give a damn how long I stay in this hell hole! Keep me in here and_ don't let me out._"

L stared at the screens and finally nodded. "I won't. You have my word."

Beyond let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Because, you know, if you do let me out..." He stared up at the camera with a grin on his face and eyes glowing red. "..._You might just die."_


	14. Chapter 13

After 46 days passed, Beyond seemed to have lost it completely. Everyone had agreed to take turns guarding him, since they knew L couldn't do it forever. Eveyone noticed Beyond's mental breakdown. One day, it was Matsuda's turn to guard. He couldn't stand it. Beyond was just to creepy for him. He got out his phone and called L.

"What is it, Matsuda? Did you notice any difference in Beyond's behaviour yet?" L asked after the first ring.

"No," Matsuda said doubtfully. "Actually, he's starting to scare me. If I keep on watching him, I'll probably have nightmares of him killing me. And I'm not-"

"Oh _Matsudaaaaaaaaa_. Come out to _plaaaaaaaaaayyyy_~"

Matsuda quickly looked at one of the computer screens. Beyond was on his back, staring straight at the camera with a huge grin on his face. "Come out, come out, wherever you _arrrreee_~" he said. A shiver ran down Matsuda's spine.

"Seriously, Ryuzaki! He's creeping me out big time!" he whispered.

L sighed. "Matsuda, he's just taunting you. He's fully restrained, so I'm sure that he won't be able to harm you," he assured.

"Don't be mean, Matsuuuuuu. Just a short gaaaamee; I'm sure youu'll like eht! It just requires some of your blood, kay kaayyyy? I wanna see how much blood someone has to lose to dieeee. You'd be _perrrrrrfectt_~" Beyond said cheerfully. Matsuda stared at him in horror. "Please, Ryuzaki! I don't like it when he's like this!" he begged.

"None of us do, Matsuda. But if you really want to leave so badly, then I'll send Light over. How does that sound?" L offered.

"Yes! Thank you!" Matsuda said in obvious relief. After a few more words, he hung up his phone and put it back in his pocket. He turned his attention back to the monitors. Beyond was still on his back, pouting now.

"Awwwwww, you're gonna leave meh? But we were gonna have soooooooo much fun~!" He laughed and rolled onto his stomach, found it wasn't so comfortable, and rolled over onto his back again. "Do yuh really value your liiiiiife more than mah happehness?"

Matsuda suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped, letting out a small yelp. Light raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, Matsuda, it's just me," he said.

Matsuda let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks, Light. I don't think I could stand this for another minute."

"No problem," Light said dismissively. Matsuda quickly left, desperate to leave the room. Light sat in the chair in front of the monitor tiredly. Beyond beamed at his arrival.

"Kira-kun! I'm soo glad _you're _here! How's the killin' been goin', hmmm? Eht must beh sooo hard for yuh to kill aaalllllllll dose people day aftah day aftah day!"

"How many times must I tell you that I'm not Kira?" Light asked, knowing very well that this very conversation was being surveillanced and later on reviewed by L. He knew he had to be extrememly cautious. But, would L really believe Beyond in the state he was in now? Better safe than sorry, though.

Beyond laughed manically. "Yo, apple lovah! Mind bustin' meh out of dis place, huhhh?"

Beside Light, Ryuk tilted his head and laughed. "I don't think so, man. You look shit."

"I fell like eht too! C'moonnnnnn, have some symphathy for mehhh! I need yuh, bro!"

Light closed his eyes and folded his arms against his chest. "Beyond, please try to get a hold onto yourself. Hallucinating isn't going to make anything any better."

Beyond found Light's attempts to hide the fact that he was Kira ammusing. "Let mehh and mah pretteh fairy friends talk in peace, Fagami!" he said, and laughed as if that were the most hilarious thing in the world.

There was a knock on the door behind Light, and in came Misa, along with Rem. "Hey, Light," she greeted. "Ryuzaki said you'd be here." She saw Beyond on the screens and frowned. "He's not getting any better, is he?"

"Not in da least, ~!" Beyond said cheerfully.

Ryuk looked over to Rem, who he noticed was staring at the screens as well, only with more contemplating look on her face. She noticed him giving her a questioning look and looked down. As Light and Misa talked softly to eachother, Ryuk went over to her.

"What's up?" he said.

Rem looked up at the screens again. "I just have some suspicions..."

"Huh? What about?"

"About why Beyond is acting like this."

"Hyuk, isn't it obvious?" Ryuk asked. "It's 'cause he's insane as hell."

Rem shook her head. "I had something else in mind," she said. This confused Ryuk. What else could it possibly be? Sure, there were alot of mental disorders with a bunch of fancy, scientific names that could describe exactly what was happening to Beyond. He didn't see why Rem would want to go into specifics with those. Unless, she didn't think it was one of those at all. Unless she thought that...

"You think this is because of something that doesn't happen to humans?" he asked, finally figuring it out. Rem nodded in response, too lost in thought to really give him an answer outloud.

"Heeyyyyyyyy, what tiiime is eht?" Beyond asked with a yawn. His eyelids were feeling extremely heavy. All of the laughing seemed to have taken all of his energy.

Light checked his watch. "1:20 a.m," he answered.

"Yuh sure? You're not doin' dat shit where people just round eht to da nearest numbah, right? 'Cause I didn't ask 'what time is it near', kay? I asked what time is it _now._"

"Just turned 1:21 now."

"_Arigatou,_" Beyond said, and then yawned again. He rolled to his side and closed his eyes. "Nighty night, Kira-kun and Kira-chan," he said happily, before his breathing finally even itself and he was sleeping peacefully.

Light sighed turned off the microphone and put his face in his hands, obviously relieved that Beyond wasn't talking anymore. His phone then started to ring. He tiredly picked it up and held it to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Light-kun." It was L. "I give you and permission to leave."

This statement shocked Light. Why was L letting him leave? L continued, "It's late. Besides, B is asleep. This is an extremely confined prison cell. Even if he could get out of his restraints, which I doubt, there's no way he could escape. Go enjoy sleep while you can."

Light was hesitant at first, and then sighed. "All right, Ryuzaki. If you think that's best." He didn't even bother asking how he knew Beyond was asleep. He probably had an extra monitor that was showing Beyond this very moment. Light hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. "C'mon, Misa," he said. He then looked at Ryuk, expecting the shinigami to follow.

Ryuk looked at Rem, who sighed. "Light, can we come back to check up on Beyond later?" she asked. Light shrugged. It said that it wasn't his desicion but theirs. Rem nodded in understanding, and the two shinigami followed Light and Misa out the door.


	15. Chapter 14

This was torture. How long was he going to have to be like this? It's been more than a month; how much more could he take? A familiar flapping was heard and his head shot up. "Ryuk? Rem?" Never before had he felt so relieved to see the pair of shinigami in his life.

Rem's face seemed more serious than it usually was. "Look down and close your eyes," she said without bothering to greet him.

Beyond blinked in confusion. "W-What...?" he asked hesitantly, looking like a helpless child with his eyes wide and body shivering violently. Ryuk thought he was starting to feel some pity towards the murderer.

"Just do it, B. We wanna check something," he said.

Beyond, still a bit bewildered, did as Rem said. For a few moments there was nothing but an ominous silence. "Zaphrane," Rem said. "We know you're there."

The silence continued for a while longer, making them start to doubt their suspicions. But then, pieces of string began to become visible, reflecting off of the moonlight that had shown through the barred window high above. The string seemed to be attached to each of Beyond's wrists, ankles, and neck. TThe strings led to bony-litterally-bony fingers, with each string wrapped around a finger. A monstrous face appeared of a benevolent shinigami.

"_Henh henh henh_, looks like you found me out,"it said humoursly.

"Zaphrane, the shinigami puppet master. I see you've found another doll," Rem said bitterly.

Zaphrane laughed. "Mmm, indeed,_ henh henh_," he replied. "Oh, how long I've wished to confront you two. the shinigami who devotes her existance to a human and the other who tolerates being a human's pet. Both go against the Shinigami King's laws." He laughed.

"Jerk. You only act like you're so important because the Old Man gave you that ridiculous power to dicipline humans," Ryuk said.

"Maybe so," Zaphrane responded, not completely denying it. "But is that the point now? Yes, and no, I'm guessing. The reason why I'm here talking to you is because you want to discuss the boy."

Rem nodded. "Yes. You've put him through enough already. He's payed for his Father having fallen in love with a human. Why do you insist on continuing?" she asked.

"Zaphrane grinned, revealing his perfectly straight shark-like teeth. "Because it's fun," he answered. "People like Ryuk's human are too easy to unfluence. What's his name again? Moon Yagami? Well, whatever it is, he didn't even put up a fight against my strings. Someone too absorbed with his world would barely notice, I guess. It only took a short while for us to create 'Kira', and then he was on his own. But Beyond Birthday? Oh, he puts up a fight. It humors me to watch him struggle for his sanity. Doesn't it you?"

"Not exactly," Ryuk replied indifferentlt. "Why did the Old Man trust you with this power, huh?"

Zaphrane smirked. "You see, punishing humans is my way of punishing shinigami, whether they care or nt. I punished Yagami by giving him Kira. His ending is obviously going to be unpleasant, if you hadn't given with your extra Death Note. I punished Misa Amane by giving her Yagami. When his time comes, she'll be devastated that who knows what'll happen, because she had to be the cause of death for Gelus. And Beyond...the mutt's very existance puts shinigami to shame."

"Leave the kid alone, all right?" Ryuk said in frustration.

"You've caused him enough pain. How long are you planning on doing this?" Rem asked.

Zaphrane moved his fingers, making Beyond raise his head and open his eyes, now glowing red, and a grin on his face. "Until the boy dies," they said in unison.

"You little..." Ryuk started to say.

"What?" Zaphrane and Beyond asked. "I'm but an illusion. In truth, I'm still in the Shinigami Realm. If you come back, you'll only get in trouble with the His Highness. Then how will you be able to save your friend here?"

Beyond looked down again, seemingly unconcious. Rem made a sound of anger at how easily Beyond was being controlled.

Zaphrane laughed again. "You must learn to accept the fact that he's my toy now, has been since his birth. And once I've chosen a toy, I won't part with it until I feel like it. Your attempts to discourage me are useless. Understand? _Henh,_ it's farewell, then." Zaphrane began to slowly fade away.

"Hey, wait!" Ryuk called, but he was already gone, making him more frustrated than ever.

Beyond's eyes slowly began to open. "He looked up to see the shinigami's change of attitude. "What happened?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.

_Of course, _Rem thought. _Beyond wouldn't remember anything if Zaphrane didn't want him to._ She sighed, thinking it best that he knew the truth. "Beyond, you to know. There's a shinigami out there by the name of Zaphrane. He's known as a puppet master since he controls humans with puppet strings..." Rem's voice trailed.

Beyond's eyes widened as he figured what Rem was trying to say. "I'm being controlled by a shinigami...?" he asked, fury and ragebuilding up inside him. Ryuk nodded. "Zaphrane, is it..." he murmered. "I see. So it was his voice I've been hearing this whole time?"

_"Thaaaaatt's riiiiighhht."_

There they were again. Beyond clenched his teeth. _You've been wanting me to die this whole time,_ he thought._ The pain I've caused myself thinking it would affect you... I bet you didn't feel shit._

Zaphrane's voice cackled. _"Henh henh henh, youuuu're smarteeeer thaann I thought, muuuuttt," _he said.

_Mutt?_ Beyond thought curiously, and then realized what he was implying._ Ahh, I get it. You must not like the fact that I have my "Father"'s eyes._

_ "Youuuuu doonnnn't deseeerrrrrve theeemmmm_," Zaphrane said.

_You think I asked for these damned eyes? _Beyond asked.

_"I caaaannn caaaree lesss abouut your desiiiiiiiressss," _ Zaphrance replied. _"Nowwww ifff youuu'llll excuuuuuse meeeee, I haaave otheerrr prioritieeessss to attteennnnd toooooo."_

"Wait!" Beyond called out loud.

Ryuk looked at him strangely. "What is it?"

Beyond just sat there, staring into space. He tried to organize what had just happened. There was someone, an actual, tangible being, screwing with his mind. A shinigami, apparently. How could he possibly fix this? He might have a chance, perhaps, if he were to confront the monster. But, as far as he could tell, Zaphrane wasn't on Earth. He was still in the Shinigami Realm. The only time Beyond had remembered he was there was when he had temporarily...

Beyond's eyes widened in realization. "I think I know how to solve this," he said. The two shinigami gave him questioning looks. Beyond closed his eyes and smiled. "I have to die."


	16. Chapter 15

"Okay, explain to me exactly how this plan is _sane_?"

Beyond sighed as he leaned against the hard walls. The straightjacket wasn't helping him get more comfortable than he already was. "Really, Yagami, when did I ever say this was sane?" he asked tiredly.

"You want me to _kill_ you," Light asked in clarification.

"That's right," Beyond said with a nod.

"Why the hell do you want me to do that?"

Beyond let out another sigh. "If I die, I'll be able to go to the Shinigami Realm and find the puppet master. That's why I need you to write my name down in the Death Note," he explained.

"Do you know how delusional you sound right now?" Light asked.

"I'm perfectly aware," Beyond replied calmly. "Now, give me a chance to explain the rest of the plan, will you?"

Light closed his eyes in frustration, trying to calm down, and nodded. "What's the rest of the plan?" he asked.

"There's an item Ryuk has. It's called the Death Eraser," Beyond began. Light opened his eyes and at the mention of this and looked at Ryuk, demanding an explanation of why he didn't know about. Ryuk just shrugged in response, making Light grimace. Beyond decided to continue. "If write someone's name in the Death Note with it and erase it with the eraser, they'll be revived. 30 minutes after you've written my name, erase it. We'll see how it goes from there, all right?"

It was a somewhat decent plan. Light let out a deep breath and got out his Death Note and ball point pen. He opened the notebook to a blank page and and the pen to it, but hesitated to write. He looked up at Beyond. "You know this is going to hurt a lot," he said.

Beyond scoffed. "I'm used to living with pain, Yagami. Just write it."

And so he did. After he wrote down the last letter in Beyond's name, he decided to add 'dies a peaceful, painless death' out of pity. Light pulled his sleeve over his watch to count down the seconds. It seemed to be ticking in slow motion. "35," he finally said. Beyond looked at him with determination. "36. 37." Light calmly kept his eyes on the watch. "38. 39.

"40."

And then, everything went black.

When Beyond opened his eyes again, it was not in the cell. He awoke in a dark, gloomy place. The sky was grey, and there were bones everywhere. In the particular area Beyond woke up in, a row of large, sharp bones curled over him on either side, like a prehestoric set of dinosaur teeth. Beyond got up and dusted himself off. _It's been a while..._he thought.

"_Henh henh henh, _welcome mutt."

Beyond let out a deep breath at the sound of the voice. He turned around and saw the shinigami who had been torturing his mind for all these years. "Zaphrane, I assume?"

Zaphrane nodded and laughed again. "That's right. I'm glad to see you."

Beyond smirked. "I wish I could say the same," he replied. "I came here to ask if there was something I could do to convince you that you should leave me the fuck alone."

Zaphrane chuckled. "Is that so?" he said with a grin. Suddenly, he extended his hand out. Beyond saw a piece of string attached to each of the monster's fingers. It was then that Beyond noticed where the other end of the string was attached. The thumb and pinkie to his legs, the index and ring finger to his wrists, and the middle to his neck. Zaphrane raised his other hand to reveal more strings.

Beyond felt paralyzed. He couldn't move. Even his fingers wouldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. Beyond returned his gaze to Zaphrane. He obviously wasn't moving because the shinigami's hands hadn't moved.

Zaphrane laughed and moved a few of his fingers, forcing Beyond to his knees. Zaphrane moved his fingers some more so that Beyond's arms were held straight out like a cross.

"You really think you can agreement with me?" he asked humourously. "Although, to tell you the truth, I am getting rather bored. I've been letting you resist me for far too long. I think it's about time I used my full power and take over, instead of just half."

_He was just using HALF of his power? _Beynond thought furiously.

Zaphrane smiled. "Let's make this game a little more interesting, shall we?" he asked with a grin. "Ryuk and Rem have been wanting to give me your sanity back, so let's make a bet. When Ryuk's pet erases your name, I'll take over completely. If you manage to throw me out of your mind, I'll stay out forever. If you don't, then you might just end up killing someone you hold dear to you~"

"What?" Beyond exclaimed. "You expect me to agree to that shit? Why the hell would I when the chances of losing is too great? This isn't a fucking game; it's my _life_!"

Zaphrane shook his head and made soft _tsk-_ing sounds. "Speaking out of turn, are we?" he asked, then moved his finger, tightening the strings around Beyond's neck. He coughed and gasped for breath.

Zaphrane chuckled. "Much better," he said. "I still think this could be more intriguing. All right! You have a week to push me out of your mind!"

"A _week? _You're only gonna give me-ack!" Beyond choked as the strings got tighter once more.

"Talking withour permission yet again. Haven't your parents taught you any manners. Oh, wait," Zaphrane started to laugh. "That's right. They were too busy beating you to even bother with it weren't they?"

Beyond wanted to lunge himself at the monster, to slice the strings and be free of his control. But he knew there was no point in trying; he was utterly powerless.

Zaphrane grinned. "Those are my rules. Nod if you understand them," he said. At first Beyond did nothing. Zaphrane sighed. "I'll repeat. _Nod if you understand_." he moved his hands again, causing Beyond to feel his head forced to nod. Zaphrane smiled. "Okay, then. I'll leave you here until they erase your name, all right?" Zaphrane extended his bat like wings and rised a few inches above the ground. "_Henh henh henh, _let the games begin then."


	17. Chapter 16

"Beyond?"

Beyond's eyes shot open. He was no longer in the Shinigami Realm, but back in his cold, dark cell. Light was looking at him with both concern and curiousity. Never had Beyond thought he would be relieved to see the young mass murderer in his life. Light studied Beyond with his deep brown eyes. "What happened?" he asked.

"Yagami, listen closely, because I'm only gonna explain this once," Beyond said, his voice filled with urgency. "He's going to take over completely. The only way I can prove that I can throw him out is if I don't kill anyone. This will go on for a week. If I win, he'll leave me alone. So you and the other will have to do what you've been doing so far, only harder. _Don't let me out._"

"Is that the kind of deal you were hoping to make?" Light asked with disbelief.

Beyond's eyes turned and he grinned. "Rather ignorant of me, yes, but you knowww! A killer's gotta do what a killer's gotta do in order to take lives. Isn't that right, _Kira-kun?_"

Light frowned and turned away, taking out his cell. He quickly dialed L and waited for the detective to pick up, which wasn't long. "What happened, Light-kun? Did he try to kill you?" L asked.

"No," Light answered wearily. Light had convinced L to give him an hour alone with Beyond, completely unserveillanced. It took quite some time to do so, for L still couldn't bring himself to trust Light completely, especially since he was the number one Kira suspect. Still, Beyond had requested it and backed Light up in the argument with what sanity he had left at the time. L had been worried about what had happened and was glad Light finally called.

Light ran a frustrated hand through his neatly combed hair. "He's lost it again, though. If anything, I say we need to be more cautious than ever. He seems extremely desperate to get out. And, I might be overestimating him, but I think that if he forms the right plan in his head, he'll be out of here for sure."

"Remember that his thoughts are incoherent from what we can tell at the moment," L reminded. "Still, I see your point. I don't know what else we can do as to heighten the secerity, since we've already done as much as we can. We'll think of other methods. Until then, I want you out of there. He really might try to kill you if you give him the right oppertunity."

Light nodded in understanding and hung up. He turned to Beyond and hid his Death Note in his jacket. "Don't do anything stupid, Beyond," he said.

"Course not! Misa's allllllll yours!"

Light gritted his teeth left, not wanting to deal with Beyond any longer. He made sure he didn't make an idiotic mistake and leave the door unlocked. Once he locked it, he tried to open it a few times. It wouldn't budge. Nice and secure. Light let out a tired breath and walked back to the main room, where L would be waiting.

As Light's footsteps faded, Beyond's grin widened. "Oh Yagami. You're sooo cautious, aren't you?" he said quietly with an evil cackle. He then looked out through the bars. "How long are you planning to hide there, hmmmmmmmm?"

The man that had distracted Matt earlier came out of the shadows with a smirk. "Hello," he said, his voice completely calm. "It's a pleasure to meet you B. I've heard so much about you, from the orphanage and the media alike. To meet you in person is like a dream come true to me."

Beyond laughed and bowed his head. "I'm flattered. Now, my dear boy, do you think you can get me out of here? As you can imagine, straight jackets aren't the most comfortable things in the world."

The man laughed as well. "Just give me a moment, all right?" he said. Beyond nodded, and the man got to work on the security system. His fingers grafefully moved among the keyboard of the system, and he worked with complete ease. Finally, he heard the satisfying _click _of the lock. He opened he door and went to Beyond. Helping him up, he got to work on unbuckling the straight jacket. Once it fell to the floor, Beyond stretched his arms.

"Oh, does that feel good..." he said, popping his back. He turned to the man and extended his hand out in greeting. "Not to sound rude or anything, but I haven't the slightest clue on who you are," he said with a chuckle.

The man chuckled and shook his head. "I had never been given the letter officially, but nonetheless, I still dubbed myself with it. My alias is Conscience, but you, my friend, may call me 'C.'"


	18. Chapter 17

"T-They what?" Light exclaimed.

Matt looked extremely panicked. "He escaped. Oh fuck, I don't even know how he did it!"

Mello came back from the place Beyond had originally been locked up in, his gun still at ready, as though Beyond would pop out from any part of the room and attack. "He couldn't have done it by himself," he said, eying the room suspiciously. "Someone obviously helped him escape. The question is, who the hell was it?"

"Conscience"

Everyone turned when L entered the room, holding a single sheet of paper. Attached to it with a paperclip was a picure of a guy around the age of 17. His skin was pale and he had dark brunette hair. "Conscience was an orphan at Wammy's. He originally came from a small town in China but was forced to move by his Grandmother, who he had been living with. After she died, he came to the orphanage and proved himself to have extreme intelligence. Although, it was obvious that he might not have had good intentions. When he left Wammy's, he wasn't given an official letter. He showed that he didn't mind at the time, so no one payed him any mind. Then, a few years later, he killed one of the orphans at Wammy's, who was the one who was going to also be given the title as C, since the original had died."

"You think he's behind this?" Light asked.

L nodded. "Yes. I'm 97% sure he's the one that helped Beyond escape. Just as I'm sure he was the one that committed those murders. He was trying to distract us, since he knew I would try to equally divide my attention to him, Kira, and Beyond."

Mello cursed under his breath. He got out another gun and handed it to Matt. "C'mon, we're going after those two," he said, and headed out the door. Matt nodded and followed.

"Don't do anything too rash, Mello," L called.

Mello muttered an uncomprehensible response and left, Matt right on his heels. L sighed and collapsed onto the chair. He pulled his legs close to him and burried his face in them. Light could tell that he was utterly depressed and went over to comfort him.

"Why are you so worried?" Light asked. "You're L, the world's greatest detective. You'll be able to solve this before Beyond goes completely out of control."

"He already has, Light," L said, his voice monotone. "This is just how it was when he left Wammy's House all those years ago. He's completely mentally unstable now. I don't think he'll be able to get out of this." He closed his eyes and calmed himself. He pressed the button in front of him and spoke into the microphone. "Watari."

"Yes, L?"

"I need you to alert the news stations that Beyond Birthday is on the loose and is a major threat. C might be a possible accomplice. Please carry this task out immediately."

"All right."

Light looked at L with a bit of disbelief. "So that's it? You're not even going to try to help Beyond regain his sanity again? 

L sighed. "7%," he said.

Light narrowed his eyes. "This has nothing to do with Kira right now, and I think it's unreasonable you're trying to use my words against me-"

"You misunderstand me," L said, getting up to leave. "7% has been deducted from the chances of you being Kira." He retrieved a bowl of sweets and a laptop before heading to another room. "Kira would never defend a ruthless murderer."


	19. Chapter 18

Matt and Mello were at the 3rd abandoned building they believed Beyond and Conscience to have escaped to. They had been searching for them all night. All of the walking had tired them, but just by a bit. They were too focused on reaching their goal to worry about any weariness they had.

Once they reached the building, Matt and Mello stood at either side of the doorway, their guns at the ready. Matt looked at Mello, who nodded and held out three fingers. As he put each down, he mouthed a number. Three, two, one.

Once all fingers were down, Matt shot the lock and kicked the door open, holding out his gun. Mello followed him inside, also holding out his gun, ready to fire at any moment. The building smelled of gasoline and it was too dark to see anything. Matt took out his cellphone to provide them some light. Mello reached into his pocket and did the same. "Any sign of him?" he whispered.

Matt shook his head. "Not yet..."

They continued searching the area. Matt was being paranoid. He couldn't help but have his eyes dart all around the room rather than smoothly scan it. Out of nowhere, Matt felt a heavy piece of medal collide with his foot and tripped, falling to the ground. Unfortunately, Mello was right behind him and he went down with him, falling on top of the gamer as their guns slid in a different direction.

Matt looked up at Mello, still using his phone for light, and smirked. "Hey. You're finally on top," he said with a mischievous wink.

Mello gave him an unamused look and shoved him away. "Dork..." he muttered, and went to retrieve their guns. He handed Matt his and sighed. "There are two levels of the building. I'll stay here while you check upstairs, all right?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, sure," he said. Mello gave Matt a somewhat doubtful look but went his own way nonetheless. Matt turned and headed towards the stairs. It made a soft metallic sound as he made his way up. Once he was there, he examined what little he could see of his surroundings with the phone. There were alot of crates scattered throughout the floor. Matt cautiously walked the grounds, holding his gun out. Suddenly, the lights turned on, immediately alerting Matt.

"Hey, Matty."

Matt quickly turned around and saw Beyond grinning wickedly with a knife in his hand. Matt instinctively pointed the gun at him. "Ah, little Jeevas," Beyond said in an amused tone. "What do you suppose you're doing with that?"

Matt tried to conceal his fear as he aimed the gun at Beyond. "Beyond, I've known you for awhile now. You're my friend. But if I have to shoot you, I will," he said.

Beyond smirked. "Brave words, Mail. You're different from when I first met you. Tis ashame it had to end like this, isn't it?" Beyond asked as he played with the knife in his hand. Matt knew it was time. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger of the gun.

Nothing.

Matt opened his eyes immediately and pulled it again. Still nothing. "What the hell...?" he said.

"Though I'm not so experienced with guns, I believe they won't do any harm unless they have these in them," Beyond said, opening his hand to reveal a few bullets.

Matt's eyes widened. "How did you...?" he started to ask.

"I made sure that all of your guns were unloaded when you entered," Beyond answered. Matt tried to put the pieces. He must've unloaded them when he and Mello tripped. Maybe it was accomplice who purposely placed the metal there. Beyond chuckled and gripped the knife tightly. "Say goodbye, Mail Jeevas," he whispered, then struck. Matt shut his eyes, expecting the worse. A few seconds passed and he felt no pain. Instead, he heard a yell. He looked up and saw that Mello was standing with his back towards him, Beyond's knife in his heart.

"No!" Matt yelled. Beyond grinned and pulled the knife out of Mello. He weakly fell on his knees. Matt caught him, feeling tears in his eyes. "Mello! Why?!" he asked.

Mello coughed up some blood. "Idiot...I couldn't let you die..." he said.

Beyond chuckled. "Just as I predicted," he said. "Matt still has high numbers. Mello's were dangerously low. To save his friend from a fatal strike to the heart, Mello sacrifices his own life to save his precious Matty-kun. How sweet."

"You bastard!" Matt screamed at Beyond. "Why the fuck would you do such a thing?!"

Beyond continued to smile. "Mello was destined to die today, Matt. I just helped him," he responded, and started to walk away. "I'm leaving this letter here. Please make sure someone reads it, if you don't mind," Beyond added, placing a letter on top of a crate. With that, he left the building. Matt would have gone after him, but he was paying attention to Mello, getting closer and closer to death.

"Mello, please," Matt begged. "You can't die. You just can't!"

Mello smiled weakly, feeling the body heat start to leave him feel cold as ice. "Matt...listen to me..." he said. "Don't...don't miss me too much...all right...?"

Matt shook his head and took off his goggles, tears streaking his face. "I can't do that," he said. "You mean too much to me. Asking me to forget about you would be asking me to do the impossible."

"Then...promise you'll...catch him...? Beyond, I mean..." Mello asked.

Matt nodded quickly. "Of course I will," he said. "He's not going to get away with this. I'll catch him if it's the last thing I do, that's a promise.

Mello sniffled as he felt his life slowly start to slip away. "Matt..." he whispered. "I always knew...that it'd be you...that'd be by my side wh...when I died..."

Matt sobbed. "Oh God, Mello...you can't leave me alone..." He shut his eyes tightly. "I already lost my parents and so many other people who meant a lot to me! You're all I have left...You can't just leave me here alone, Mells..."

Mello's hand slowly reached up to caress Matt's face. "I'll always be with you..." he said weakly. "You'll never, ever be alone...promise..."

Matt put his hand on top of Mello's, still unable to stop his tears. "Damn it, Mello...I love you too much to let you die..."

Mello smiled weakly. "I...love you...too..." he managed to reply, before finally closing his eyes and taking his last breath.


	20. Chapter 19

**(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Zomg I'm soooo sorry I haven't updated in soooo long! X( )**

Matt felt hollow as he carried Mello's body back to the headquarters. He had used up all of his tears already, there wasn't any more to spare. It had started to sprinkle shortly after he had taken Mello away from the building. When he finally reached the headquarters, he was drenched from the rain, which was coming down with full force now. He didn't care.

When he reached the main room of the building, Light was consentrating on the computers. He only turned when he heard the door slam behind Matt. "Hey," he said. "You're back ear-" The sight of Mello stopped him from finishing the sentence. He immediately got up from his chair and went to them. "Is he...?"

Matt nodded silently. His throat felt sore; he didn't feel like talking. Next to Light, Ryuk chuckled. "Well, well. Looks like Beyond did you a favor and got rid of one of L's people for you," he remarked. Light ignored this comment and helped Matt put Mello on the couch.

"I'm sorry..." Light said quietly. Matt nodded again, still unable to speak. All he could do was stare down at his fallen friend, his face pale and stained with Matt's dry tears from crying over him. Matt wanted oh so much to just see Mello's eyes flutter open, his beautiful blue eyes to stare at him with the life it had once been filled with. To see some color go into Mello's skin. To feel the warmth he was once made up of instead of this cold, icy touch he had now. To have the most important person in his life alive again. But no. No matter how much Matt willed it to happen, no matter how much he prayed, he wouldn't come back. All because of Beyond.

"Light," Matt said quietly. "How much effort is going into bringing Beyond down, exactly?"

"Watari alerted the news stations. Everyone is on the lookout for him and his accomplice."

"And the police are looking out for him as well?"

"And the FBI," Light responded.

"Good..." Matt sighed and stroked Mello's absent-mindedly, just as he had done for years whenever he would lie down to take a nap. Only this time Mello wouldn't wake up. Matt sniffled and pulled his goggles onto his head, rubbing his eyes.

Light sighed and walked over to get Matt a drink of water. Before he could, he ran into L, who he saw staring at Matt. Before Light could say anything, L said quietly, "He's dead, isn't he."

Light gave a solemn nod. L sighed. "I see. I will call Watari to prepare a burial," he said, then turned to go.

Light caught L by the shoulder, preventing him from leaving. L gave Light a questioning look. "What is it, Light-kun?" he asked.

"You can show a little more emotion about this, you know," Light said bitterly. "Mello was your successor, after all. And you can clearly see how much pain Matt's in. The least you can do is try to console him."

L sighed. "I cannot console, Light-kun. I can end up saying the wrong thing and make the situation worse..." L looked away from the sad scene in front of them regretfully. "Believe me, I would comfort Matt if I could..."

Light looked at the detective with suprise. L would rarely show any signs of sympathy, or any other related emotion, really. But seeing L now...it confused Light more on the theory of his character he already had in his mind. Light frowned and sighed tiredly. "I...I understand," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "We should go work on the case, then, so something else like this doesn't happen..."

Nodding once silently, L walked back to the room they were working in. Light hesitated, looking over his shoulder at the mourning gamer, and followed the detective.

Beyond removed his knife out of a man's cold, dead body. He chuckled and leaned against the alleyway's brick walls, twirling the knife playfully in his hand. He turned to Conscience with a grin. "What do we do now, hmmmmm?" he asked.

Conscience laughed lightly and brushed some of his brown hair out of his eyes. "Well, we wanna work up to our main goal, righhht?" he asked with a playful smile.

"Which, by the way, is who?" Beyond asked. "We wanna get L or Kira?"

Conscience chuckled. "Why not both? Kill two birds with one stone? I think it'd be pretty cool, at least. Ooh, like that time I made it look like a Kira worshipper killed those people? Did you hear about that?"

"Pfft, who the hell didn't? I was there when L-san decided to take on the case," Beyond replied with a laugh. He got out a handkerchief out of his back pocket and began wiping his knife. "We already hit L with Mello. Let's have a strike at Kira next?"

"Sure. _Shéi?_"

Beyond looked up ponderously at the starless night, and a grin appeared on his face. "I don't know if it would give him any remorse, but I know it would definately leave him at a huge disadvantage." Then he chuckled. "Either that or I'm just in the mood to kill blondes."


	21. Chapter 20

"Hey, Misa."

Misa looked up, startled at Light's sudden appearance. It was late, and she wasn't expecting him to be over. She figured that he would be spending his time with L, since they had so many cases to do. She herself had been too busy with her modeling job, unfortunately, and couldn't spend as much time with him as she would have wanted to. Normally, she would greet Light with a super tight hug and cute greeting of how happy she was to see him. But now, he just seemed to tired and more distressed than usual. "What happened...?" she asked tenatively.

"It's Mello," Light answered quietly.

"Huh?" Misa tilted her head slightly, growing concerned. "Did he get hurt?"

"Misa...He's dead."

As soon as he said this, Vivi, who had came to hang out with Misa that day, came out of the kitchen, stopped dead in her tracks as she heard his words. Her eyes widened, sharing Misa's shock. "_Q-Que...? _Mello's...?"

Light nodded somberly. "Beyond killed him when he and Matt went searching for him and C," he said.

Vivi shook her head, refusing to believe it. Her deep brown eyes brimmed with tears. "No...It can't be true..." Mello had been like a big brother to Vivian. He was always protective with her, ever since they were back at Wammy's. She couldn't take in the fact that he was gone. Her tan skin paled slightly and she sniffled, filling with grief and loss. "Mello..."

Misa started to feel awful as well. True, her's and Mello's relationship had not been exactly pleasant, but it wasn't horrible either. She was a closer friend to Matt, and now she pondered how he was taking all of this in. Those two, Matt and Mello...they were made for each other. They were always together, they were the only people who really understood each other. They were one, and now that Mello was gone, Matt was only half of what he used to be. Misa cried silently, not caring that some of her mascara was running.

"Beyond couldn't have killed him..." Vivi said quietly, as though trying to convince herself of it. "I-It must have been the other guy..."

"I'm going off of what Matt said," Light said, keeping his tone soft. "He specifically said that Beyond Birthday was Mello's killer."

"No!" Vivi sobbed, unable to help herself. But she knew that Light was telling the truth. She could tell. Beyond had given in. The man she fell in love with was gone. That man that everyone had warned her about. They had told her that he was nothing but trouble. Especially since the first time her and Beyond met was when he had attempted to kill her. She thought that she had helped him change his ways...but it seemed not.

"I'm not staying here long," Light finally said regretfully. "I have to go back to the HQ to help Ryuzaki..." He looked down and sighed. "I'm sorry this had to happen..."

"N-Not your fault," Vivi said. She got her purse from the couch and wiped her tears off of the sleeve of her jacket. "I need to get home now anyway."

"You sure you're okay enough...?" Misa asked with worry.

Vivi nodded, avoiding anyone's eye contact. "Yeah, fine," she said quickly. She had seen death before, and she had learnt to be strong about it. Besides, all she wanted right now more than anything was to be alone.

Watching from afar, Conscience took his binoculars away from his face. "Looks like Kira and the Hispanic chic are leaving," he said.

"Good, that leaves Misa vulnerable," Beyond said.

Conscience nodded with agreement and looked through the binoculars again, this time looking at Vivi. "She looks like a good kill...You sure you don't want to get rid of her?"

"Of course not," Beyond snarled. "We don't need to deal with her, she won't affect L enough."

Conscience laughed slightly at Beyond's sudden defensiveness. "Still have feelings for this girl~?"

"Still have ADHD and losing perspective of our plan~?" Beyond countered, making the other smirk.

"You know, that's a very good question," he admitted, chuckling. He took out a bandana from his pocket and tied it behind his head so that it was covering all of his face except for his eyes. Beyond didn't bother covering; Misa knew how he looked anyway. And it was possible that she wouldn't be able to see either of their names and lifespans anyway. They grabbed their weapons and stealthily made their way to the house.

They didn't attempt to enter the house until she turned the lights off in her room, indicating that she was going to sleep. She closed the blinds and climbed into her bed, covering herself in her warm cottom sheets. She closed her eyes, getting ready for a good slumber and try to clear her mind, when she heard a voice.

"Misa."

Misa's eyes opened immediately and she looked up. She saw Rem, whose features seemed troubled.

"What is it?" Misa whispered, wondering what could possibly have the shinigami look so distressed.

"You need to hide," Rem said immediately, her voice urgent.

"Huh? Why?"

"Someone is breaking in," Rem replied, to which Misa responded with a shocked look, eyes widening with fear.

"Who?" she asked, her voice quieter than before.

"I'll explain later. For now, just find a safe place to hide before-"

The shinigami ubruptly stopped talking as she heard the front door open. It was extremely quiet, yes, but she found it easy to pick out. She was about to urge Misa to hide again, but the door opened before she had the chance.

Beyond entered, a look of displeasure appearing on his face as he saw Misa awake. "Aw. It seems we miscalculated," he said with a pout, which was quickly replaced with a smirk. "Too bad, Miss Amane, I was actually going to show some mercy to you and kill you in your sleep. 'Tis a shame, don't you agree?"

Before Misa could scream out, Conscience was already behind her, covering her mouth with a gloved hand. Beyond got out his knife and went close to her, holding it to her throat. "This is going to be fun, don't you agree~?" he purred, red eyes glowing in the darkness.

With swift movements, Rem retrieved the Death Note that had been lying on Misa's desk, along with a pen. She had managed the first 3 letters in Beyond's name before he made humoured _tsk_-ing sounds, and looked at her behind his shoulder. "You sure that's going to work~?" he asked. "You know that won't kill me. What's the use? Besides, we both know that if write my name, the only one who's going to die is you~"

Rem stood frozen, knowing that what he said was true. Before she knew could decide what to do neck, Misa let out a piercing scream before she fell to the floor, eyes still wide with fear. The numbers were gone, all that was left, her name.

"Kyahaha...that's what you get, dear little Kira-chan...~"


	22. Chapter 21

Light looked down from the computer in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere..." he muttered to himself, running a tired hand through his hair. He got up and stared at the red headed gamer next to him. He had been working non-stop on the case ever since Mello's death. A stack of newly printed papers was next to him and grew higher as he printed out more and more information he could find. His goggled-covered eyes were locked onto the screen, quickly scanning it and typing furiously. Finding B and C were his only priorities now.

"...Light-kun."

The detective's voice shook slightly when he called, making Light glance over curiously. L had taken a short break (which had taken Light a long time to convince him to do so) and decided to watch the news. He had been biting his thumbnail when he had moved it inches away from him, staring. Following his gaze to the TV, Light froze.

_"...Famous superstar icon, Misa Amane, was found dead in her home in Tokyo a few hours ago. Officials are witholding all information except that she was murdered. More information on Misa Misa's death will be aired as soon as we are told..."_

"...R-Ryuzaki...What kind of sick test is this...?" Light said quietly, his knees feeling weak. How could L go so far as to put up a fake news report on Misa's death to prove that he was Ki-

"This isn't a test, Light-kun." L looked up at him with somber, obsidian eyes. The detective was actually showing symphathy for him. "She's really dead."

Dead...Light didn't think he'd ever hear this about Misa. Yes, she was supposed to be a simple tool, a tool that he himself had originally planned to dispose of before Rem had threatened to kill him if he did so. But he had grew to tolerate her, and maybe something even more...But now...Now he would never get the chance...

He thought he heard Ryuk laugh behind him and make a smartass remark, but he ignored the shinigami. Grief suddenly changed to anger. "They...they're challenging us..." he said through gritted teeth. "They had killed someone from the famous detective's side, and someone from the main Kira suspect's side...Damn it, L, they're not gonna stop until every one of us is dead!"

"No," L said, his voice aggravatingly calm. He stuck a Pocky into his mouth and focused on the screen. "They're not going to stop until just the two of us remain."

Matt got up and went next to them. He took his cigarette out and blew out some smoke. "If this is their goal, then the next possible victim will either be me or Near," he stated. "There's also Vivian...but I doubt Beyond would dare hurt her, even in the state he's in now."

"You know what we have to do," Light said to L, who was avoiding the other two's gaze. "Once we find those two...We'll have no other choice but to execute them..."

L was silent. When he did open his mouth to reply, he was stopped by a sudden ringing. All three heads turned to the phone on the desk. Light took in a deep breath before heading to answer it, putting it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"_Henh henh henh..._Hello Kira~"

Immediately at the sound of Beyond's voice, Matt went to the computer and started to track the phone. Light concentrated his attention to the murderer. "You bastard...How...How can you do that to Misa?!"

"Aww~ I'm a killer, Kira, one of the things I do is kill people. You'd think that you'd know that out of all people." Beyond chuckled, and Light thought he heard another voice laugh in the background, most likely Conscience's. His grip tightened on the phone.

"We'll find you. And when we do, we'll-"

"Kill me?" Beyond's voice was obviously humored. "Oh, I know, Kira-kun. I heard you earlier. Yes, I've hacked into the security cameras in your little headquarters. I'm watching you right now, and damn, you look _pissed_. And don't think I can't see you either trying to find me, Jeevas~" he added, making Matt stop typing and look up at the nearest camera with paranoia.

"So who's next, huh?" Light asked, looking around at any of the cameras. "Who's your next precious victim?!"

Beyond laughed again, almost uncontrollably. "You'd like to know, wouldn't you?!" he said in between laughs.

"B." It had been the first L had spoken since they recieved the call. He still kept that steady gaze on the TV. "You're here, aren't you?"

Beyond was quiet for a moment, and Light could imagine a grin spreading onto his face, wider and wider. "I might be. I might not. Who's to say?"

"Which floor are you on?" L asked, not bothering to humor him.

The lights in the room flickered slightly. "Care to take a lucky guess~?"

Another voice came up. "It's 13, isn't it?" said Vivian, followed in by Near. "That's unbelievably cliché, even for you, Beyond."

The pause in the phone was obviously Beyond trying to regain himself from the shock of seeing his safe to call ex-girlfriend. "Well...Isn't this a pleasant suprise~!" he said with an attempt to make himself sound like he didn't care. "Unfortunately, you've just ruined mine~ Ah, no matter! Yes, I am on the 13th floor. I might move now that my location has been discovered, but I might stay here~ 'Tis rather comfy."

"Stop fucking around with us!" Matt exclaimed, dropping his cigarette and putting it out with his foot. "I'm going to kill you for what you did to Mello! And Misa!"

"Do it, then~" Beyond said, his voice dangerously low. "See what happens~"


	23. Chapter 22

"Hurry, this way!" Matt yelled, running towards the stairs with the others following quick behind him. They figured it be a much safer route to go by instead of the elevators. If Beyond and Conscience had control of the cameras, they could just as easily get them trapped in them.

There wasn't much on the thirteeth floor, since only a few of the floors were actually put to use. There was little to no furniture, and the lights were extremely dim, making the others have to blink a few times for their eyes to get adjusted to it. Beyond sat in the middle of the room, in his usual position, mocking the great detective. His back was turned to them and he was staring down at a laptop, most likely the one he was watching them from. He made no sudden move to acknowlage them. To the others suprise, Near was the one to step up.

"Hello, B," he said calmly.

Beyond chuckled faintly. "Hello, N," he greeted with a soft voice, making no attempt to turn around and face the albino. He could see them perfectly well from their reflections on the windows in front of him. He smirked and reached for a half eaten jar of strawberry jam and stuck his hand in it, slowly licking the contents off his fingers. "How have you been? I expect you've been taking care of yourself."

"Quite fine, actually," Near replied. "I assume you realize why we're here, yes?"

"Oh yes~" Beyond said, snickering.

Matt stepped up, getting out his gun and cocking it. "Face it. You're trapped. Five of us, and only, what, two of you?" He pointed his weapon at the killer. "It's over."

Beyond ignored the fact that he was being threatened with a gun and laughed. "Yes, the odds do seem ever in your favor, don't they~? However, you forget that my wit overpowers yours."

"Is that so?" Light asked. He glanced at L, trying to see if he would have a sarcastic response to it, but he said nothing. Instead, he quietly scanned the area, looking for any threats. His eyes suddenly widened slightly, and with swift movements he pushed Matt out of the way. A dart with a funny top to it hit the plain ground with a sharp _tink_, obviously only meant to knock him out.

Conscience revealed himself from the shadows, pouting. "You never told me that your twin was so quick," he remarked.

"I told you it was wrong to underestimate any of them~" Beyond replied. He finally turned, his red eyes illuminating in the darkness. "Well, let's see. How to split this up, I wonder~? C, you can take Kira and Jeevas. I'll take the others."

"Bring it, bitch!" Matt exclaimed. He highered his gun and aimed at Conscience, who was quick due to how little he weighed. He got his dart gun out and aimed at Light, who was unfortunately unable to follow along how fast things were going, let alone dodge.

As the other two began to do, Beyond put his jam down and lazily got up. Ryuk, who had silently tagged along with Light, thought he could make out Zaphrane's strings on Beyond. He sighed, wondering how Beyond could possibly let his original plan fail. "So," Beyond said. "Which will make their first move? Perhaps the famous detective who started it all~?"

"Why don't you pay attention to me, huh?" Vivi said, already in a fighting stance, a fierce look in her eyes. "You're not gonna get away with just trying to ignore me this entire time."

Beyond paled slightly but chuckled. "It'd be a waste of tiiiiiiime," he said. He got out a knife a twirled it around playfully. "Actually, I think I'll work on Near first~!" He charged at the younger male, but Vivi had quickly blocked him. Beyond cursed under his breath and growled. "Get out of the way, _Vivian_."

"Fucking _make me!" _she screamed, doing a roundhouse kick to his head, which he dodged. It reminded him of the times when they used to play fight with each other. She would always beat him those times. This time, though...this had to be different. He couldn't lose.

The Hispanic prodigy threw a punch, which Beyond also dodged, grabbing her wrist and twisting it in an awfully painful position. She winced and used her long nails to dig into Beyond's skin, causing him to retract his hand. He could feel a bit of blood seeping through the scratch and laughed it off.

He ran forward with his knife at ready, and Vivi got ready for another attack, but he ran past her. She turned around quickly and saw that he was heading towards L. He stroke at him with the knife, but Near had moved in front of him, taking the knife in the shoulder. L's eyes widened slightly. "Nate..." he said, watching red stain his white shirt.

Near looked over his shoulder at the detective, eyes as emotionless as ever, as if he felt no pain. "Pay no mind to me," he said simply. Beyond hissed and took the knife out, pushing him to the side harshly. He tried to stab L again, but the other was quick. They knew each other well. It was the reason that every attack they made at each other that followed was perfectly blocked. They might as well have been fighting themselves.

Ryuk heard a loud flapping sound and turned to see Rem. The shinigami had a much darker expression on her face than usual. Misa's Death Note was in her hand. Ryuk chuckled slightly. "_Hyuk hyuk hyuk..._And whaddya plan to do with that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. She opened to a blank page and put the tip of her pen to it.

"Which one are ya gonna kill, huh?" Ryuk asked curiously. He was hoping it wasn't Beyond. Not for a reason as idiotic as he actually cared about the half-breed. He just didn't want Zaphrane to think he won. That guy seriously pissed him off.

Rem didn't answer his question. Instead, she simply started to right. Peaking over her shoulder, he laughed again to himself and looked up at the battle ahead of them. He saw Light staring at them curiously, until his eyes narrowed in understanding. Rem finally put the pen down.

_Cong-Min Chow_

40 seconds had past. Conscience jolted slightly, much to Matt's suprise. He watched as his opponent gripped his chest, looking down at horror, struggling to breathe, and then falling down to his knees, onto the floor. The gamer kneeled down, putting two fingers to Conscience's neck, only to find his skin quickly growing icy cold.

"Guys...He's dead..."

The others turned to face their attention to him. Beyond cursed. "Damn it! I knew he was useless..."

L, was panting from the exhaustion of fighting, stared at Beyond. "Are you about ready to give in?"

"Hell no!" Beyond yelled, whipping his attention back to him."I can kill you right here, right now, I know I can!"

"But can you really?"

Teru Mikami entered the room, adjusting his tie. He bowed slightly in apologies. "I'm sorry. G-Light had sent me a messege earlier to meet here, and I arrived as fast as I could." He turned back to Beyond. "You know as well as I do that you won't be able to kill anyone else tonight."

Beyond knew he was referring to the fact that the others' lifespans were still pretty high. He couldn't kill them if he wanted to. He was going to lose. This was the end of the game. His eyes flashed red with anger and he repeatedly shook his head, gripping madly at his hair. "No...No...I have to win...Have to...Can't...Not..."

Just then, he felt something being removed, his body feeling suddenly less strained. The strings. Zaphrane had removed them. He could hear him cackling wickedly in his head.

_ "Henh henh henh henh! Thaaaat was a raaaaaaaather good game, Beyooond~! I thiiink I'll let this level eeeend. Mayyybe one day youuu'll be able to beat the fiiiiinal booooss, ehhhhh~?"_

Beyond thought he felt tears in his eyes, which he made no move to resist. "C-Can't...win..."

Soft, comforting arms wrapped around him from behind, pulling him close. "It's over, Beyond," Vivi whispered gently. With those words, he broke down then and there. His sobs filled the silence in the room. He tried to grip the knife with all his might for support, but Vivi made him drop it and replaced it with her hand.

L frowned at the sight and sighed, placing his hands in his pockets. "B...I'm afraid that we're going to have to put you under arrest."


	24. Chapter 23 FINAL

House arrest, that is.

Beyond laid on his bed, staring up at the unmoving ceiling fan. He felt no urge to move, his entire body feeling heavy as lead. "B," he heard in the monitor. His eyes slowly shifted towards the speaker with more effort necessary.

"Hai?" he said hoarsely.

"Do you feel any improvement?"

Did he? Beyond supposed that since Zaphrane had left him he was somewhat better. All except for the fact that it felt as though his soul had been forcefully torn out of his body. He only shrugged in response.

L sighed. "You haven't seemed to have any urge for murder, and as far as we know, the voices haven't attempted to contact you. I think it's safe to assume that you can leave now…"

The statement made Beyond laugh sadly. "I would never have expected to hear such a thing from you, Lawli…" he said. "I'm not safe. I'll just stay here for the remainder of my life. It's fine."

"It's in no way 'fine'. B, you're getting better. Please don't lose faith already," L said.

"L," Beyond said, tone irritated slightly. "I'm in no mood for this inspirational talk crap. I killed again. I took the lives of more than I would have liked." He shook his head in disgust and turned over on his stomach, burying his face in his pillow. "Hell, I don't even know why you haven't executed me yet. I shouldn't be alive."

L pulled his knees closer to him on the other side, frowning to himself. "I can't do that."

"And why the hell not?!"

"Because you're my friend, Beyond," came L's response, calm and collect as always. The comment shocked Beyond. First, because he had never been called L's friend in years, and also that it was an extreme rarity for the detective to call him something other than 'B.' He averted his gaze away from the speaker.

"How…How is everybody else?" he asked tentatively. It had been quite a while since he had actual living company with him. After he had killed Mello and Misa, he wasn't sure how the others were coping with it.

"Light has been trying to act indifferent, Near has succeeded in doing so. Matt has been smoking more so than usual and Vivian has been trying to comfort him. She's also still waiting for you."

It would have been a great moment to cry, hearing this, and Beyond wanted to. Although, he seemed to be emptied of tears at the moment. "…I miss her," he said quietly.

"And she misses you as well. So do I. So please, B…"

Beyond was quiet for a while. "…Thank you, Lawliet…" he said finally.

L raised a curious eyebrow. "I don't understand," he said. "What are you thanking me for?"

"Not giving up on me like everyone else has," Beyond said, a faint hint of a smile on his lips. L was silent, not knowing how to respond. It wasn't often that he had to be this sympathetic.

"I…Yes, yes of course," he said with a nod.

Beyond chuckled to himself and closed his eyes. "I'm gonna take a nap, all right? And if I run into Zaphrane in my dreams, I'll be sure to kick his ass."

"Just rest yourself, B." L advised, smiling softly.

"I will. Good night."

He fell into a deep, well-earned sleep then; so deep that he never noticed the heart attack that made his heart stop beating.


	25. Credits

Heyyyyyy!

Story's over!

Kay, just to give some credit: Since this is , I probably don't have to give credit to the Death Note creators, but whatever, they deserve it. Second, Vivian Valasquez is not my original character. She belongs to my best friend of whom I refer to as Hara-chan. Yes, I did get her permission to use her character. :P

Also, **the last sentence I wrote in the the last chapter is OPTIONAL, you can pretend it doesn't even exsist!** It could be a happy ending if you want it to be where BB lives! I just had this urge to kill him again, and, uhm, yeah, apologies for that. ^^; I'm a horrible person.

Soooo here's my story playlist (aka songs that helped inspire me to write this. idk why I'm putting this here...heh, probably just to help you guys to find songs to download on your iPods and mp3s ftw X3):

They're Coming to Take Me Away by Neuroticfish

Becoming Insane by Infected Mushroom

Almost Easy by Avenging Sevenfold

Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park

Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace

Monster by Skillet

Breathe Into Me by Red

The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

Unforgiven by Metallica

Mad World as sung by Adam Lambert

A Dangerous Mind by Within Temptaion

Master of Puppets by Metallica

Goodnight by The Birthday Massacre

Imaginary by Evanescence

The Bird and the Worm by The Used

The Deep End by Crossfade

Fading Away by Demon Hunter

What You Want by Evanescence

Hello by Evanescence

Coming Undone by Korn

Down With the Sickness by Disturbed

Savin' Me by Nickleback

Die Die, My Darling by Metallica

My Obsession by Skillet

Deliever Us From Evil by Bullet For My Valentine

Zetsubou Billy by Maximum The Hormone

Strawberry Gashes by Jack Off Jill

Scared by Three Days Grace

=^w^=

Thanks for Reading!

~MisoraMassacre


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